Maintenance

Weeds be gone

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UPDATE, July 17, 2026: Terra Firma has removed the giant pile of weeds. See first photo below.

Planter now ready for sod or possibly as a temporary home for transplanted trees/shrubs.

Original post:

Tonight, Council President Jeff and I tackled the forest of weeds that had grown in the planter adjacent to Building 248.

On June 23rd, it looked like this:

Weeds, always amazingly healthy and green.

In the three weeks since, they had grown even denser and lush.

We started at the east end and worked our way west, leaving a pile of ex-weeds in the middle. These will be picked up by the landscaping company Terra Firma.

This is what it looked like when we finished, just shortly after sunset:

Freshly exposed soil and a huge pile of weeds.
Different angle, showing the weed pile.

You may be wondering how the weeds grew so much in the first place and the answer is: bad timing.

When Phase 1 of the membrane project ended, the previous council made the decision to have sod placed in the planters. It was further agreed to by all parties to wait until the weather was better before placing the sod, to give it a better chance to take root and grow. Unfortunately this came so close to the summer water restrictions that it would not have been possible to properly water the sod, and it likely would have died.

Mother Nature took over and weeds began sprouting up, growing rapidly.

The sod will get placed after water restrictions are lifted (or shortly before) and in the meantime, we’ll make sure the weed forest doesn’t regrow.

Why didn’t Terra Firma do the weeding? They had been told not to do work in the courtyard area due to the membrane project and besides, sometimes it’s fun to roll up your sleeves and do something to improve your home.

You can help water the Heritage Courtyard trees

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Owners and tenants are invited to help water the trees in the Heritage Courtyard.

Two hoses have been placed and each is equipped with a hand-operated nozzle. This means you must actively engage the nozzle for the water to come out–this is a requirement of the Stage 3 Water Restrictions which came into effect on June 8 throughout Metro Vancouver.

If you water the trees, thank you! Please coil and put the hoses back when you’re done. There’s no need to turn the water off or on, as the nozzles will insure the water does not leak out.

One of the two hoses, coiled up and ready to be used.

Power shutdown update – only Building 248 affected (June 1, 2026)

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UPDATE, 1:31 p.m. The work has been completed and power is now back on in Building 248.

I have confirmed that only the 248 building will be affected by the power shutdown today, June 1, 2026. The outage is expected to last from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Buildings 240 and 244 will be unaffected.

For Building 248, expect the following during the power shutdown:

  • Parkade gate fobs will not work– the gate sensor has been temporarily disabled to allow entry/exit without a fob during the power outage.
  • Door fobs will not work. Keys will work normally.

This post will be updated when work has been complete and power has been restored.

An update on updates

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I had surgery recently and the recovery is affecting my ability to provide timely updates on the membrane project, so you may see a few days when little is being reported. This should improve over the next week as my recovery progresses.

Phase 1 completion/emergency repairs update for May 27, 2026:

  • Work has been more sporadic recently as decisions are being made on how to deal with inevitable issues coming up.
  • Patios are continuing to be addressed in terms of stripping and preparing them for post-demolition work, on both the 240 and 244 buildings.
  • The sidewalk in the emergency repair area is no longer going to be removed and replaced. It will instead be repaired and sealed with the same paint used for crosswalks/traffic lines (this is very thick, durable paint that provides a seal that can withstand traffic for many years).
  • The planter by the southeast corner of the 248 building, which was part of Phase 1, has finally been removed:

Landscaping update:

As some may have no doubt noticed, the new landscaping company, Terra Firma, has been onsite. As of today they have mowed all lawns except for the easement facing Brunette Avenue. They have been working in stages as the grass was very long, due to approximately 3.5 months of no cutting.

They will continue to come by weekly (normally on Fridays as of now) and will continue to mow, clear out brush and tend to other neglected areas around Copperstone.

Lawn cut around Building 248
Lawn cut on Sherbrooke Street (looking east)
Lawn cut on Sherbrooke Street (looking west)

This post will be updated shortly with more info–stay tuned.