A PLEA FOR DESIGN CHANGES
The New Infrastructure is Necessary, But Not As Planned

by Lindsey Angell
(click images to enlarge)

Hello Neighbours, on August 31 the Lord Roberts Annex playground and site will be closed to the public to make way for the West End Substation.

I am a theatre artist, a teacher, and a mother. I am also the Chair of our community’s Parent Advisory Council, and a settler living on the unceded and ancestral lands of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

My family has lived on Bute for 20 years, directly across from the school, and my kids have grown up in Nelson Park. Our community is vibrant, diverse, and has formed over time, often in response to the hard stuff. A negligent building manager. A rogue garden box. A global pandemic. The ordinary frustrations and extraordinary challenges of city life. We learned resilience by prioritizing connection.

**The Soon to be demolished Lord roberts annex as drawn by a staff member.** *(Louise Stevens illustration)*

Today the upheaval in this neighbourhood is everywhere and connection is being severed. The rush to accommodate necessary infrastructure is compromising our community.

The sale of the Lord Roberts Annex site was presented as a way to deliver two elementary schools for the downtown community. The Vancouver School Board received $65 million from the sale of a subsurface parcel of land, but after construction delays and years of cost escalation, the price tag of the replacement school is $150 million. Hydro found a bargain on the sale rack and made it out the door before anyone could notice.

So now the Ministry of Education is on the hook and they have already denied the provincial funding requests twice. The replacement school is not funded. If King George Secondary has been waiting for capital funding since 2005 while severely crowded and seismically unsafe, what makes us confident the replacement annex will be funded?

**What Was promised — The first architechs drawing showing how the park would look after the substation was installed.**

We are sending children into a school system with serious capacity and seismic safety problems.

If the project remains at the Annex site, the substation should be fully underground, with above-ground structures minimized and mature perimeter trees protected wherever possible. The surface could prioritize natural ground cover and tree canopy, with sufficient soil depth for replacement trees to actually mature. And before the existing school site is permanently committed to this project, there should be confirmed, secured funding for the replacement school.

With a municipal election approaching in October, we MUST elect candidates who will fight for this neighbourhood. We must also demand to hear from our current provincial representatives, who seem to have little to say about this project or its consequences. Spencer, where are you? We need representatives to push for infrastructure decisions that protect our children and our community while serving the public good.

**what we’ll get — the latest 2026 concept of the new Lord Roberts Annex Elementary School.** *(McFarland Marceau Architects/Vancouver)*

Myself and several other PAC volunteers have been working hard to influence BC Hydro, the VSB, and the Parks Board. We have prioritized the preservation of our tree canopy, pushed for design changes and better communication, and highlighted the importance of safety for our kids. We love our school community and deeply value the teachers and administrators who work tirelessly for our benefit.

The demands we are making are not unreasonable. They are demands of people who love where they live. People who have invested in creating a home here and built connections worth protecting.