New Westminster businesses struggle after pier fire

NEW WESTMINSTER (CityNews) — Two months after part of New Westminster’s Pier Park went up in flames, the city has released a timeline of when we can expect it to reopen, but the answer has nearby businesses concerned.

Stephanie Vu owns Old Crow Coffee Co. on Front Street, just a short walk away from the now-closed park. She says customers would often stop by for a bite to eat on their way to the pier, but since its closure that hasn’t been happening.

“Immediately after the fire that’s when things kind of dropped off pretty drastically. I mean, I definitely noticed the entire flow down here has definitely tapered off here, you’re not seeing nearly as many people walking back and forth back here,” she says.

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Now the city announced it won’t be reopening the space until February 2021, despite a particular part of pier park was not touched by the flames.

Mayor Jonathan Cote says there’s still cleanup work to be done.

“There was actually a lot of smoke in the other portion of the park, so our insurance claim has recommended we do a full cleanup there before we open it back up to the public,”  he explains.

Columbia Street Sandwich Company Owner Samantha Furber says what really hurt her business is that a nearby parkade also had to be shutdown because of the fire and has yet to fully reopen.

“It’s had a major impact for us because a lot of the people who drive through this area would stop but there is no parking because all of the people who would normally park at the parkade they are forced to park on the street so people driving past have nowhere to stop,” she notes.

Cote expects the parkade to be fully reopen in the next few weeks, and says next year the city plans to consult the community about what it would like to see be built on the site of the destroyed pier.

“This has been a very difficult year for businesses in this city with a combo of COVID-19 and then a very large fire which impacted road access, the parkade has had an impact,” he says.

“Our city is working very closely with the businesses to see how best we can support them.”