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Community Information: New Westminster

Are you thinking of buying a home in New Westminster? Here is community information to help you.

The City of New Westminster is located southeast of Vancouver on a hillside along the north banks of the Fraser River. New Westminster, also known as the Royal City, has often been compared with San Francisco because of its heritage buildings, sloping streets and views of the water.

Demographic information is available at the BC Stats Web site .

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Housing and Zoning

New Westminster offers a variety of housing choices - from large heritage homes in Queens Park to new executive style condominiums along the banks of the Fraser River.

The city is in the midst of a redevelopment boom. It is well known for innovative development, especially along the waterfront.

For details on house prices see our Market Tracker.

More information on housing and zoning is available at the City's Planning Department Web site.

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Shopping, Dining and Entertainment

The five areas of the city offer different types of services. The Westminster Quay Public Market in the heart of the waterfront redevelopment has nearly eighty "one-of-a-kind" shops and services, a food fair, a neighbourhood pub and two fine restaurants. East Columbia Street in Sapperton offers a small town type shopping to serve day-to-day needs. Uptown has all the shopping conveniences of a large town including the largest mall in New Westminster, the Royal City Centre with over 35,000 m2 of retail space. The Downtown area along Columbia Street offers a variety of stores in a historic ambience.

New Westminster has three performing arts theatres: Douglas College, Massey Theatre, and Vagabond Playhouse.

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Parks and Recreation

New Westminster has ten major parks and seven indoor recreation facilities including two ice rinks and the best aquatic facility in the Lower Mainland - the Canada Games Pool. There is also the waterfront esplanade, numerous neighbourhood parks, nature areas and sports playing fields.

New Westminster is connected to Burnaby and Vancouver through the 7-Eleven bike system that runs under and beside the Skytrain guideway.

For more information visit the City of New Westminster Parks and Recreation Department Web site.

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Transportation

New Westminster is located in the geographical centre of Greater Vancouver. The adjacent Trans Canada Highway (Highway #1) connects New Westminster to Vancouver and east to the rest of Canada. The Alex Fraser Bridge enables commuting to Surrey, Delta, and Richmond while the Patullo Bridge links the city to King George Highway south (99A).

Skytrain, a light rapid transit system with three stops within the city, links to Vancouver (25 min. ride), Burnaby, and Surrey. The Skytrain extension project should connect New Westminster to Lougheed Mall and Coquitlam Town Centre in the next few years.

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Education

A list of K-12 schools and additional information is available at the School District #40 Web site.
For more information about the independent schools visit the Federation of Independent School Associations' Web site.
For school rankings, visit the B.C. Ministry of Education site or contact the New Westminster School District for detailed school profiles.

Three post-secondary institutions are located in New Westminster: Douglas Community College, Justice Institute of B.C., and Trend College, a small private commercial college that offers business classes.

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Community Services

For information on social and community services, visit the City of New Westminster Web site.

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Other Web Sites

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