A North Vancouver man is hoping a new parking lot for Lions Gate Hospital won’t come at the expense of a treasured mature cedar tree.
Vancouver Coastal Health is in the process of building a new acute care tower for Lions Gate, but a new ramp and short-term parking area along 13th Street will require the mature deodar cedar – almost as tall as the hospital itself – to be cut down.
Architect and planner Alex Jamieson said the project should be redesigned to keep the tree and ditch the short-term parking.
Those who have the most to gain will be the patients inside Lions Gate, Jamieson reasons.
“There’s documentation that nature has a healing effect on people,” he said. “If you look out the window and you see a tree, that’s a good thing. You’d think people in the hospital business would understand that.”
There are also the environmental considerations, which border on obvious. A mature tree is a carbon sink that provides natural shade and cooling, which cities are increasingly seeing the value of in the climate emergency.
And Jamieson questions the wisdom of adding more vehicle access off 13th at all, given that it will cross the city’s AAA bike lane.
“It’s a very easy solution,” he said. “Don’t do anything.”
Jamieson has taken the matter up with Vancouver Coastal Health, the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation and the City of North Vancouver, which didn’t result in much.
This isn't the first North Vancouver cedar to gain fame while facing the axe. In 2021, the city first insisted that a mature cedar needed to come down as part of the redevelopment of the Harry Jerome Neighbourhood Lands. A campaign came together to save the cedar, and the development was changed to allow the tree to remain standing.
Jamieson, who was a supporter of that cause, is hoping others will also rally for the Lions Gate cedar.
“It’s possible they’re willing to reconsider, but not because of anything I’ve said,” he said.
There is now an online petition to save the Lions Gate deodar.
In June, City of North Vancouver council approved some development variance permits related to the hospital’s construction. Staff’s report at the time acknowledged how the new ramp and parking area would impact the trees.
“This location is required to service the new drop-off and pickup area to ensure it is large enough to meet the needs of the hospital. Staff are continuing to work with the applicant on modifications to this area with the intent of retaining as many existing trees as possible,” it read. “Staff is working with the applicant to find locations for replacement trees on both the subject site and frontage along East 13th Street as compensation to the trees that have already been removed.”
Vancouver Coastal Health issued a statement in response on Wednesday.
“The Deodar cedar on 13th Street East is located next to an existing parking lot and pedestrian ramp that need to be reconfigured to create a single driveway that extends past the new acute tower and the existing tower. This work will destabilize the cedar as its roots extend under both the parking lot and pedestrian ramp, and the cedar is leaning away from the ramp. The cedar will need to be removed for safety for when the new driveway is built,” it read. “The new driveway minimizes the number and the width of driveways accessing 13th Street, thereby reducing the potential conflict between motor vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. The cedar is approximately 40 years old and is not indigenous to the North Shore. Vancouver Coastal Health is exploring every opportunity to plant more trees on the campus. The contractor is replacing every tree that is removed with a mature tree.”
