THE TALK OF THE TOWN
/What Do We Have For You This Month?
Welcome to “The Talk of The Town” for November 2023. Scroll through the following features to find:
Our Lead Story: The City of Vancouver has called off plans to close a block of Comox by Lord Roberts Elementary, citing neighbourhood concerns.
West End News & Notes: Next steps in the redevelopment of the West End Waterfront planning, and the Burnaby Street travellers’ hostel reopens after COVID closure.
Our Lead Story
CITY PIVOTS AWAY FROM YEAR-ROUND SCHOOL STREET
Strong Concerns From Neighbours on Comox Street Proposal
by Nate Lewis
The City of Vancouver has decided not to proceed with a proposed year-round school street beside Lord Roberts Elementary.
Children and parents gather on Comox during a school street session. (Lucy Maloney photo)
“We’re disappointed,” the school’s Parent Advisory Council (PAC) wrote. “Unfortunately this means that there will be no School Street or interim bike lane this school year [and] no more Play Streets [program],” the PAC said.
Craig Befus lives near the corner of Comox and Cardero and was formerly part of the group of residents who organized to oppose the closure. Befus said he’s happy with the City’s decision.
“I believe they listened to us,” Befus said, “because they got a lot of calls and emails… it seems logical that our efforts led to their decision to not go forward with it.”
The decision became public through the PAC’s announcement on social media; the City and Vancouver School Board have not released a public statement on the decision. However, the City’s manager of community transportation Katherine Glowacz did provide comment, confirming that feedback from neighbours was considered in the City’s decision.
“We heard support for safe active travel options, but also strong concerns about impacts to accessibility, general access, parking loss, noise and sanitation - primarily from adjacent residents in the seven multi-storey buildings on the block,” Glowacz told The West End Journal (TWEJ) in a written statement.
“We too have a voice in this and needed to be heard. So that happened,” Befus said. But Befus is also “a little distrusting of what’s up the City’s sleeve,” going forward.
The shelved proposal would have permanently closed Comox to cars between Bidwell and Cardero. Now, the City is now pivoting to other plans for the street.
“Based on the feedback, alternate options have been explore[d], including an option which balances providing vehicle access along the block and dedicated space for active transportation,” Glowacz wrote.
Glowacz explained that this option would include a two-way bike lane. The Lord Roberts PAC provided more detail on the alternative design, saying that car traffic would be allowed one-way on Comox between Bidwell and Cardero and that no parking spaces would be removed. The tentative timeline for the bike lane’s installation would be summer 2024, the PAC said.
Befus said he doesn’t understand why the City would make the street into a one-way with a bike lane when, he says, there’s only a traffic problem in the area during school pick up and drop off times.
VOLUNTEER-RUN SCHOOL STREETS AREN’T FEASIBLE LONG TERM
Before the school street program began in spring 2021, pick up and drop off time was a major pain point for Lord Roberts parents. The traffic situation was “absolute chaos,” and was the number one concern of parents and caregivers at the time, said current Lord Roberts PAC Chair Lucy Maloney.
As configured the past two years, volunteers, mostly parents, have run the Comox school street twice a day throughout the entire school year.
A school street volunteer chats with parents and passersby. (Lucy Maloney photo)
Maloney told TWEJ in June 2023 that, come the next school year in September, the PAC would no longer organize volunteers to operate the school street.
The group lacks the volunteer base to keep the program running throughout the school year, Maloney said, adding the burden is too great to bear for the small group of volunteers they do have. The unsustainability of operating a school street with volunteers has led their PAC to seek alternative solutions.
This is a common problem it seems. According to Glowacz, the City has heard from “most schools” that the current volunteer model is “likely not feasible year-round.”
The volunteer model works for a month-long school street program in the spring the City says, which is how all other Vancouver schools participated last school year. It’s also a “great way for a school to try-out a car free pick-up and drop-off experience,” Glowacz added.
However, as exemplified by the experiment at Lord Roberts Elementary, there is currently no path for a school to make their program permanent without relying on volunteers. That block of Comox would have been the first year-round school street in Vancouver had the proposal moved forward.
“Staff are currently working with the Vancouver School Board to explore different options to offer the program on a year-round basis where feasible and in a way that doesn’t require so much volunteer support,” Glowacz said. Meanwhile, the City is encouraging other schools to sign up for their four-week trial program this spring.
However, even when there are enough volunteers to staff a school street, the barriers used to temporarily block each end of the road won’t stop some drivers, which in turn endangers people using the school street.
“As a volunteer on the school street, you regularly get into dangerous and unpleasant situations, with drivers forcing their way in and out,” Maloney described.
“Having human people there and temporary sawhorse barriers was very little protection against people driving up and down the street,” she said.
A video taken at another Vancouver area school in June 2023 shows a driver entering an active school street, driving over cones, and swerving across the road as children jumped out of the way and parents ran after the car. The video, reviewed by TWEJ, eventually shows the driver stopping in front of what they say is their house. No one was hurt, luckily, as the driver repeatedly said to angry parents and a police officer who happened to be on the scene. The two minute video ends with the driver getting back in their car, reversing back out of the block, and pulling around the corner.
Michael Lang, a parent whose children were on the closed street at the time, said this incident had a chilling effect on parents’ enthusiasm for the school street program.
COMMUNITY SHARPLY SPLIT ON PROPOSAL
The sharp split in support for the Comox year-round school street came through loud and clear in the summarized data provided by the City from their public engagement in spring 2023.
Around 750 people gave some form of feedback on the proposal, mostly through a survey that was circulated to nearby West End residents and the school communities of Lord Roberts Elementary + Annex, and King George Secondary.
The survey did not ask respondents to indicate whether they were in favour of the idea or not, but did include a section for people to write their comments and concerns.
However, based on this part of the survey, it seems that respondents were split roughly 50/50 on the idea of a permanent street closure to motor vehicles.
Of the nearly 600 people who submitted a survey, 115 people wrote they supported a year-round school street on Comox, particularly for the purpose of encouraging active travel and the enjoyment of public space. Another 174 people did not complete the comments or concerns section, which suggests they were generally in favour of the idea.
Every other “theme” from the survey results could be described as negative or not in favour of the proposal. The top concern was parking loss (125 mentions) and exacerbated traffic issues (119 mentions), followed by fears of littering, loitering, drug-use, and crime (103 mentions), fear of decreased personal safety (78 mentions), questions of why the school needs more space (53 mentions), noise, and issues receiving deliveries (48 mentions each), and accessibility issues due to a lack of street-side access to residential buildings on Comox (34 mentions).
It's important to note that a single response could include one or more of these themes, meaning it’s difficult to tell exactly how many people were opposed or in favour.
Particularly with regard to the survey, West End residents have previously expressed their displeasure – in these pages and elsewhere – at the phrasing of the survey and its emphasis on asking how the public space should be used if the proposal went forward.
“Your feedback will help guide the design of an accessible, welcoming and inclusive space that fosters a sense of connection with neighbours, the school and the broader community,” the survey’s introduction read in part.
This perception is likely what led to 64 people mentioning their dissatisfaction with the City’s engagement process. One respondent wrote, “this isn’t consultation; it looks like it’s a done deal.”
City staff speak with people during a community pop-up event. (City of Vancouver photo)
While this may be an understandable conclusion given the survey’s tone, it is ironic that the City has now abandoned the idea of permanently closing the street in large part due to the concerns of adjacent residents.
“The way they went about the public engagement probably led to this [outcome],” Befus said.
“We think that it's a real shame that the City's decided not to proceed,” with the year-round school street Maloney said, “but we knew that was a possibility.”
“As soon as people started sending supportive emails to the Mayor and councillors saying, ‘this is a fantastic idea. We're really in favour of it,’ the Mayor's office was sending responses back, saying, ‘we're looking for a compromise solution that doesn't affect residents’ access.’ Immediately, we thought, that's a bad sign,” Maloney recounted.
Befus thought the temporary twice a day closures were fine. “I think people adapted [their schedules] to that, and residents didn’t object. It’s the permanent closure that’s so drastic,” he said.
It remains to be seen if the City can find a permanent solution that works for the school community and their neighbours. In the meantime, without a school street program this year, Comox between Bidwell and Cardero will revert to business as usual.
West End News & Notes
A NEW VISION FOR OUR WATERFRONT
The City of Vancouver last month revealed its vision for the West End waterfront over the next 30 years and is in the final stages of planning for the area, which includes English Bay, Sunset Beach Park, Morton Park, Alexandra Park, and Beach Avenue.
What’s coming for the English Bay Waterfront? (City of Vancouver image)
West End residents and other Vancouver citizens will have two Open House opportunities to learn about the current state of planning for a new look for the West End waterfront. Thursday, November 16 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Aquatic Centre lobby, and Saturday, November 18 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Robson Square Sunroom. The design development and public consultation project is styled “Imagine West End Waterfront”, presented as a long-term vision for the area’s parks, beaches and places that will be implemented gradually.
Based on community input, the Vancouver Park Board and City of Vancouver have developed a draft concept design for the plan. This design includes elements from the design approaches and ideas shared in Round 2 engagement, incorporates public input, technical studies and larger trends in the city, such as population growth, climate change and sea level rise, and facilities that are reaching the end of their service life. “The draft concept design is a bold vision, and its implementation is subject to future funding and detailed planning/design” says the City.
The final plan will be brought to the Park Board and City Council for approval in spring 2024.
The project takes into account the growing population, climate change, a rising sea level, and reconciliation. The proposals include raising the overall ground level along the waterfront by a metre from Stanley Park to the Burrard Bridge, along with storm- and drought-proofing beach and park space.
The West End Journal’s John Streit did a two-part series on the project in July (here) and August (here) of this year, outlining the three design options then under consideration.
For more information and to share your thoughts visit the City website here
BURNABY STREET HOSTEL REOPENS
Renovations Completed at HI Vancouver
The HI (Hostelling International) Downtown Vancouver location at 1114 Burnaby Street re-opened on October 20 after having closed in March of 2020 as a result of the global COVID pandemic. During the closure the hostel was leased to BC Housing as a homeless shelter. When that lease ended in spring 2022, HI Canada undertook substantial renovations to improve and modernize the facility.
The West End Business Improvement Association’s Placemaking and Public Spaces Manager Charlotte Taylor (centre) is joined at the re-opening of HI Vancouver Downtown by (from left): HI First Vice-Chair Othello Tuason, director James Wyatt, CEO Julius van Wyk, vice-chair Peter Nietresta, chair Lenore Neudorf, and directors Vicotira Oppenlander, John Hutchings, and jeremy Fowler.
The hostel, a popular home away from home for travellers visiting Vancouver, first opened its doors in 1996. Prior to that it had served as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver’s first residence for senior women, and before that as a convent for the Sisters of Charity of the Holy Rosary. As a result of its ecclesiastical history there are still some lovely stained glass windows on the second floor.
The re-opening was attended by several members of the HI Canada board and members of staff, including the non-profit society’s CEO Julius van Wyk.
“Prior to its cloure, HI Vancouver Downtown was a top choice for hostel-goers in Vancouver, and we’re excited to once again cater to visitors seeking new experiences and connections with fellow travellers,” Wyk enthused.
Guests at the newly refurbished hostel can choose from four-bed shared dorms and private or family rooms, some with en suite washrooms. The amenities include a self-service kitchen, a cozy lounge, a games room, and co-working spaces for the growing number of digital nomads. The rooftop patio, complete with a BBQ, offers a great view of Vancouver.
So next time you have out-of-town visitors looking for affordable accommodations, and you just don’t have room in your West End studio, remember that the hostel is open for business.
