New Westminster’s Pier Park reopens after fall fire

NEW WESTMINSTER (NEWS 1130) – Westminster Pier Park, a popular public space in New Westminster, reopened to the public on Friday.

The park was destroyed by a massive fire last September.

“We’re really excited about welcoming residents of New Westminster back down to this really incredible public space in our community,” Mayor Jonathan X. Coté says in a video posted Friday.

People can access the park by the original overpass at 4th Street, but Coté says there is also a new ramp at 6th Street that people can use.

The park features a new playground and new seating environments.

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With some repairs still needed, Coté says City Hall will be working with the community to decide what the park’s future will look like.

“There was a large part of the park that wasn’t damaged, but some work had to be done to do some cleanup and to improve some of the access to the park. So it did take some time to reopen. We’re looking forward to reopening that part of the park,” he previously said. “There is still going to be a lot more work that’s going to need to be done to essentially replace the part of the park that was fully destroyed by the fire.”

One person was arrested and charged in connection with the September 2020 fire.