Dear Editor:
RE: Navvy Jack Restoration Plans Looking A Little Less Quaint, Oct. 23 Kirk LaPointe column
The waterfront in West Vancouver is, for the most part, underutilized. For 10 days in the summer, it is robust with music, art, food and a wine garden, as residents and visitors enjoy the Harmony Arts Festival.
The renovations and enhancements to the Navvy Jack house will be a great complement to our businesses and waterfront. A few years ago, the Ambleside Dundarave Business Improvement Association conducted a survey called “Imagine Ambleside.” We had more than 1,000 submissions, asking folks what they would like to see in our Ambleside commercial and waterfront areas. Aside from enhanced retail, breweries and a hotel, a common thread was for more waterfront activation.
Along with the restoration of the Navvy Jack house, the ADBIA would welcome summer pop-ups in the park that could house an oyster bar, fish and chips, or a taco stand, and perhaps a small temporary stage to be used on summer evenings for acoustical entertainment.
One only has to visit Eastern Canada to see that most of the buildings are well over 100 years old and they are home to restaurants, hotels, gift shops and more. The rebuild of the Navvy Jack house allows this heritage building to remain and at the same time create an animated and vibrant business, built and managed by two local West Vancouver business owners and residents.
To clarify a comment made in Mr. LaPointe’s opinion piece, while the square footage is accurate, it should be noted that his number includes the second floor, which would house offices and mechanical equipment with no public access. It is not 2,700 square feet of restaurant seating. Reviewing the renderings on the District of West Vancouver website, the inside would have upwards of 700 square feet of seating with a new deck of 800 square feet.
The ADBIA will continue to work hard to create a more vibrant, fun and animated commercial area and we are grateful for the support from both current and previous councils, as well as district staff, in our efforts to date. Since 2020, with the encouragement of the ADBIA, councils have rezoned the commercial area, limiting certain types of businesses at retail level and allowing for breweries and distilleries.
We actively work to find the types of businesses that will enhance our commercial area, provide work to local residents, and at the same time help our local economy.
The Navvy Jack house restoration and design does just that, and we look forward to welcoming them as a new business in our community.
Maureen O’Brien
Executive director, Ambleside Dundarave Business Improvement Association
West Vancouver
