Friday, November 26, 2010
No Demolition Necessary
Looking down from the arched Fell Avenue bridge leading to the North Vancouver Auto Mall you can see a large vacant field to the east. This area at 788 Copping Street is bordered on the north side by the train tracks. (Note freight train in photo above.)
If the amendment to the zoning bylaw was approved at the November 15th meeting of the City Counsel, the lot will be vacant no more. Harbourside Landing Ltd./Bunting Coady Architects has plans for three buildings on this property. It will be an Industrial Park with retail stores and a caretaker's suite. The total development area of the three buildings will be 63,030 square feet. One hundred motor vehicle surface parking stalls and 25 bicycle parking stalls are proposed. (NSNews, 10/10/10.)
Col. J. P. Fell NVMA Photo #9826, 191_
Fell Street on the western border of the 788 Copping Street lot was named for land developer and organizer of North Vancouver's WWI Sixth Field Company of Canadian Engineers, James Pemberton Fell. (See photo above.) The Armoury on Mahon Avenue is also named for him. (The Ambitious City.)
The foot of Fell Street and the Fell Street Fill runs from below the train tracks to Burrard Inlet. In 1933 it was the site of the M B King Sawmill and the Pressure Pipe Factory. In the 1940's there was also a British Empire factory addition, building of Canadian Mixermobile office and storage shed, and building of the Kavanagh MP Soap Factory. Since the year 2000 it has become the site of the North Shore Auto Mall, several office buildings, and a school. There are still a few large vacant lots waiting for development at Fell and the waterfront.
Photo: Of 788 Copping Street taken in November 2010 by SW.
Of James Pemberton Fell, The Ambitious City, by Warren Sommer,
page 124.
