Over the past months, the VPSN has been advocating enthusiastically for the design of one of Vancouver’s most exciting new public amenities. Tracing the former CP rail corridor, the Arbutus Greenway stretches 9 kilometres from Marpole almost to Granville Island. Stitching neighbourhoods together over its peaceful yet varied course, it’s designed to accommodate pedestrians, cyclists and eventually a streetcar (it’s great for inline skating too!).

The temporary path is now fully paved, with lane markings to clarify separations for pedestrians and bikers. Benches have also been installed, and there’s a Mobi bikeshare station where the greenway intersects Broadway.

So what’s ahead?

Now that the temporary path is done, the City says it’ll be looking at various permanent design options over this summer, subject to public review: a process that we’ll be following closely. The City projects starting permanent construction in late 2019. Having participated as a stakeholder group in the early consultation, we’re encouraged that the overall vision for the greenway articulated by the City in its public statements and its RFP is consistent with the hopes that we and other nonprofits and individuals have expressed. The City has made it clear in its communications that it wants the greenway to function as an accessible, biodiverse connector of linked places with public art along the way, as well as a destination in its own right.

Where it comes to public art, in fact, you can see a delightful new installation of rainbow-coloured stones lining the greenway between Nanton and 33rd. Earlier in the year, the grade 2 students at York House came forth asking permission to create public art at the greenway. Rainbow Walks on the Greenway was installed in partnership with Vancouver Biennale local artist Toni Latour. If you turn the rocks over, you’ll see inspiring little messages written by the kids in their own handwriting, such as “Smile,” “Count the trees” and “Think about what this space could be.”

All that said, the VPSN continues to be concerned about the lack of safe clarity remaining at a number of the arterial intersections (e.g., 12th, King Edward, 41st, 49th). We urge the City to expedite the creation of more obvious crossings that establish priority for pedestrians and cyclists and deter parking over the greenway. (Update from June 30: A communication circulated by the City announces that next month there will be “finishing touches” made to the West 41st intersection, with “safety improvements at local intersections along the greenway” and “signage to either end of the temporary path to help visitors get to the Seawall/Granville Island and the Canada Line Bridge.”)

For further details on the temporary path, check out our earlier coverage and the City’s video.

Do you have feedback on the greenway? We’ll continue to advocate with the City, so feel free to get in touch with us. You can reach Naomi at naomi@vancouverpublicspace.ca.

If you’ve walked the Arbutus Greenway lately, you’ve probably noticed that the temporary pathway is all paved now. Every time I go on it, I’m encouraged to see it well used by pedestrians and cyclists alike.

Time for an update.

From January 18 to February 15, the City ran an extensive public consultation gathering feedback on what people wanted from the greenway in its final form. The results are now in, and a comprehensive summary and short video are posted online.

The City also issued an RFP for consultants bidding on engineering, landscaping and other work associated with the permanent path. The RFP, which incorporated the results of the public consultation, closed on April 4.

So what’s the upshot?

What Vancouverites want

In the January–February consultation, the City asked residents for input on what would most entice them to use the greenway. Stakeholders, members of the public and City advisory committees were all involved in this process of articulating values.

The City held online Talk Vancouver and paper questionnaires, three stakeholder meetings, three public open houses, three “Pop-Up City Hall” events, a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” and meetings with four of the City’s advisory committees: children, youth and families; persons with disabilities; urban Aboriginal; and active transportation. The City reports more than 4,000 interactions with participants through these activities, including almost 3,000 responses to questionnaires.

Having participated in the second of the three stakeholder meetings (“Transportation and urban design”), I’m encouraged that the values informing the VPSN’s own advocacy for the greenway going back many months are highly consistent with the main objectives articulated by the public in the recent consultation. As reported by the City, the public wants the greenway to:

• be “a high-quality, accessible public space for walking and cycling”;
• be “a safe, comfortable, and welcoming destination with places for gathering, socializing and relaxing” that would be “not just a corridor, but a destination or series of linked places,” with coffee shops, park space and “perhaps outdoor exhibits”;
• connect “to neighbourhoods, parks and other points of interest … as well as the broader transportation network”; and
• offer green spaces: places for finding tranquility, reconnecting with nature, growing food and nurturing ecosystems and biodiversity.

Residents expressed appreciation that the Arbutus Greenway gives access to green space and community gardens. Shown: gate to the Vancouver Compost Demonstration Garden from the greenway. Photo: Naomi Reichstein

Consensus was strong, evidently, on the points above. The overwhelming majority of participants expressed interest in using the greenway for walking, cycling and/or enjoying nature. Such being the case, it’s unsurprising that reactions toward a future streetcar were somewhat divergent. While some responded favourably, others questioned the necessity or expressed concern that having a streetcar could detract from non-motorized uses. This ambivalence toward streetcar use – and indeed to the corridor’s overall designation as a transportation corridor rather than a green trail – was consistent with the ambivalence on this point that the VPSN has observed in past meetings as well.

Construction right now

Though fully paved, the temporary path is still under construction. In a newsletter, the City has announced that the following improvements will be made in the coming months:

• pavement marked with separations for pedestrians and cyclists;
• “minor improvements to street crossings”;
• pollinator seeding; and
• benches

Since the first two of these points have serious safety implications, the VPSN urges that they be treated as pressing. With regard to separations, I’ve had feedback from pedestrians who feel threatened by the speed of bikes and have expressed apprehension that the final design could privilege cyclists over pedestrians by giving them more room. Clearly, the sooner the separations are indicated, the better.

As the VPSN has also argued, the confusion at street crossings is an accident waiting to happen, and I’m not sure what scope is intended under “minor improvements.” We reiterate our keen hope that the City will hasten to provide obvious priority for greenway users. Many times, drivers either disregard the greenway or simply seem unaware that it’s even there. At the intersection with 6th, for instance, I snapped this photo of cars parked across the greenway:

Photo: Naomi Reichstein

Toward a permanent design

Meanwhile, the City is moving ahead with developing a permanent design.

Throughout the RFP, there’s a strong emphasis on transportation as a fundamental component of the greenway’s identity. Beyond that, I’m pleased to see that the values expressed at the consultation – and in the VPSN’s own advocacy – figure explicitly in the RFP’s emphasis on accessible use and safety, community connectivity, amenities, focus on ecology, placemaking opportunities and integration of cultural and heritage elements. 

For example, I’m pleased that the RFP places explicit value on attending to neighbourhood variety: “Early discussions with stakeholders and the public have indicated a desire to reflect the distinct character of each neighbourhood along the greenway. With such a long and linear site, one of the design challenges will be the development of features and elements that can maintain a coherent experience within the physical confines of the entire greenway while allowing for uniqueness within distinct sections of the corridor” (p B-9).

I’m also happy to read that the “City’s expectation is that public art [will become] an integral component within public landscapes throughout the City, including the Arbutus Greenway” and that “the City’s Public Art Program will oversee the preparation of the ‘Arbutus Greenway Public Art Plan’ in conjunction with the Arbutus Greenway’s Project Manager” (p B-23).

Paved now, the Arbutus Greenway retains echoes of its railway past with its track-like quality, running behind the little park at 6th. Photo: Naomi Reichstein

Next up

According to the City, various design options will be developed over the summer, and the public will receive further communications in the fall. After seeking public review and evaluation of these options, the City will provide a detailed update on the one preferred.

Do you have any feedback on the greenway? The VPSN will continue to advocate with the City for its design, so please feel free to get in touch with me at naomi@vancouverpublicspace.ca.

Recently I crossed the border for an overnight stay in what is probably my favourite small town in the United States.

Bellingham, Washington. The friendliest human ambience. Proximity to nature. Wooded trails where everybody says hello when passing by. Strong civic pride among committed residents. Highly successful urban renewal placing value on heritage preservation and creative commercial reuse in the city’s two downtown cores of Bellingham and Fairhaven. (Love Port Townsend? Yep, you’d love it here too.) Excellent restaurants, especially if you want your choice of Mexican food. And the best bookstore north of Seattle, Village Books: venue of last summer’s Steampunk Festival and a generous stream of other events before and since.

In fact, in June 2016, Bellingham had the distinction of making the landing page of 24/7 Wall Street’s “50 worst cities in America to live in”: clearly high praise when you consider that New York, San Francisco and Boston also made that list.

Historic Fairhaven, with outdoor cinema. Photo: Naomi Reichstein

I’d visited Bellingham many times before, but this time round I had a fairly specific motive: walking the Bellingham Interurban Trail. Aside from my general fascination with rails-to-trails (because, of course, they’re among the coolest things ever), I wanted to see what this established 6.6-mile railroad conversion could teach us in developing the Arbutus Greenway here in Vancouver.

A forest, a creek, a 50K race

The Bellingham Interurban is a north-south trail along the former right-of-way of a Bellingham–Mount Vernon electrical passenger line built in 1912 and decommissioned in 1930. The railway’s trajectory forms a poignant testament to an era when much work went into building short-lived local trains. Happily for the community, the line earned permanent life through its designation as a rail-to-trail in 1987. It originates in the Fairhaven historic district, passing through the canyon-filled woodlands of Arroyo Park to terminate at Larrabee State Park to the south.

Colours of early spring on the Interurban. Photo: Naomi Reichstein

With some concrete trestle footings as historic remnants, the Interurban has a surface of hard-packed cinder and a number of convenient access points along the way. Here’s a map in case you want to hike or bike it yourself.

For our walk, my co-traveller and I started at 10th and Donovan in Fairhaven and did about half the trail before running out of time and turning back. It was Saturday, March 18, and the Interurban was fairly busy thanks to the Chuckanut 50k race, on its 25th run. Funky little motivational signs along the trail encouraged runners to reach the end.

From Fairhaven, the Interurban takes you along Padden Creek. Submerged under a tunnel starting in the 19th century, the creek has been the subject of a 2015 daylighting project to encourage restoration of the ecosystem, as signs along the Interurban explain. (Interestingly, daylighting has made recent news in Vancouver as well, with the proposed restoration of our own Tatlow Creek.)

Padden Creek daylighting, with trail access. Photo: Naomi Reichstein

The Interurban also takes you right beside Padden’s fish ladders.

A wide, level train bed passing through a variety of plant systems, streams and remnants of old railway embankments, the trail leads into narrower footpaths full of switchbacks running through mossy Arroyo Park. I would’ve loved to continue on and see the train bed pick up again to feed into Larrabee State Park, but that remains for another trip.

Salmon ladder, Padden Creek. Photo: Naomi Reichstein

Bringing it home: The Arbutus Greenway

What can we take from this as Vancouver builds its own railroad conversion?

In the past I’ve spoken of Arbutus as a rail-to-trail, but the visit to Bellingham helped me to appreciate that it isn’t actually one in the true sense. As emphasized both in public forums and in the RFP recently published for contracting work on the greenway, the City of Vancouver purchased Arbutus with the intention of turning it into a transportation corridor accommodating an eventual streetcar. By contrast, the Bellingham Interurban epitomizes the type, as reflected in its listing by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. So the analogy between Bellingham’s pathway and the much more urban Arbutus is far from exact.

That said, there’s a lot we can learn from the Interurban’s successes:

Multipurpose use

The combination of the 50k race and the ecosystemic context provided along the trail (by the signage about the Padden Creek daylighting, for instance) brought to my mind the opportunity to bring together recreational, environmental and educational experiences along Arbutus through events, informative installations, public art and more. At the VPSN, we’ve consistently advocated for such enriched and multifaceted possibilities.

Retaining wall greened with moss and sedum. Photo: Naomi Reichstein

Community

The sense of camaraderie along the trail – with even the most exhausted joggers smiling and saying “Hi” as they passed – affirmed for me the potential of Arbutus to bring people together out of social isolation and into the community: indeed one of the most vital aspects of its value as a public space, as emphasized by some of the greenway stakeholders during the consultation.

Connectivity

A super-important asset of the Bellingham Interurban is the connectivity it creates among different parks and between parks and urban areas. Public space is a network. It’s not just the nodes that matter, but the connections also, and a trail like this – and like Metro Vancouver’s Central Valley Greenway – provides the perfect means. The Interurban stitches the area’s jewels together via neighbourhood access paths that are plentiful and easily attained. Depending on where you live as a resident, you can use the trail to visit a friend in another neighbourhood, visit the Fairhaven historic village centre or take a walk or your mountain bike through the woods. Such connectivity is a principal objective for which we’ve been advocating where it comes to Arbutus, as a means of opening up the city’s green spaces, neighbourhoods and commercial pockets while also getting people out of cars in accessing them.

I’ll plan to course through the Interurban’s southern stretch on my next visit to town.

The Chuckanut is a 50k race, after all. Photo: Naomi Reichstein

We’ve been following closely the latest developments on the Arbutus Greenway, Vancouver’s 9-km rail-to-trail corridor. On February 2, I was excited to attend the stakeholders’ workshop that the City hosted with the intention of formulating a vision for the greenway’s permanent design. Participants included representatives of Vancouver-based organizations involved with green space, human mobility and health, cycling and public consultation, with students of architecture and landscape design also present.

The intention of the meeting was high-level: to formulate overall “vision” and “values” for the greenway’s design, leaving specific recommendations and troubleshooting to further stages. The City kicked off the workshop with a clear emphasis on the greenway’s purpose as a transportation corridor, reminding participants that this formal status was in fact a condition of the original purchase. The long-range intention is to introduce light rail, though as we’ve described earlier, there’s no timeline for that because the streetcar isn’t funded. The City’s reminder was important, though, in framing the conversation.

After the City’s presentation, we split up into two tables to exchange ideas, then came back together for a discussion as a whole group.

With any major city project, residents will hold out a variety of hopes, some of which may be more compatible than others. Around the room, participants clearly agreed that the new greenway should represent a commitment to ecology, with indigenous plants, habitat for species including pollinators, preservation of quiet green space and the opportunity for non-motorized movement. Equally universal was the feeling that the greenway should both represent and enable social inclusion and interaction, allowing people of all ages and mobilities to come together within the community and engage in healthy physical activity in an accessible public space. Participants likewise agreed on what I call the attractive duality between the quiet seclusion available on parts of the greenway and the relative busyness at neighbourhood hubs. People appreciated and expressed the wish to preserve the way in which the greenway traverses tranquil green areas while occasionally coming upon larger gathering hubs interspersed (such as 6th, 41st and 57th), offering variety and interest over its long course. Supported too was the idea of incorporating plenty of benches for resting, plus cultural elements from street art to preserved railway markers.

Unsurprisingly, certain values were somewhat at odds. There was a bit of tension between the vision of Arbutus essentially as a green space needing conservation versus its status as a transportation corridor including a streetcar. One view expressed was that a streetcar could eventually reduce the greenway’s appeal as a walking and bike route and its ecological qualities. Other participants advised that designing with the streetcar in mind should play a role from the start so that improvements made now wouldn’t have to be ripped up and redone later should funding for rail come through.

What you can do

The public consultation is happening now. You can participate by taking the survey and dropping in on one of the City’s open houses on February 9 (tonight) or 11. In March, the City will report out on the results of the consultation, including this workshop.

We’ll keep you posted.

In October, we reported on Vancouver’s unprecedented rail-to-trail Arbutus Greenway project and on the VPSN’s advocacy for making the most of this corridor as a vital public amenity.

If you don’t know the greenway yet, have a look at this little video posted by the City, which includes clips filmed by a person biking the route before all the track got ripped out. It gives you an overview of the pathway’s course.

In detailed recommendations to the City, the VPSN has offered a variety of ideas with a view toward enhancing safety, community ambience, environmental sustainability and placemaking opportunities along the greenway, while evoking its railway heritage and preserving the gardens bordering it.

In the fall, the City indicated in conversations with me and others that the paving of the temporary pathway, including separations for cyclists and pedestrians, would complete by Christmas. Our unusually cold and snowy weather threw a wrench in that plan, keeping the pathway glaciated over several weeks. As a consequence, the greenway has remained paved only on certain stretches.

By now it’s all thawed again. On January 18, Mayor Gregor Robertson and the City’s chief engineer, Jerry Dobrovolny, held a press conference at the greenway’s intersection with 57th Avenue, announcing that paving would restart this week. In my own discussions with the City, I’ve received estimates that the paving should complete by March, along with the much-awaited separations for cyclists and pedestrians. These separations will be piloted in different ways along the path. On some stretches, painted lines will indicate lanes. Elsewhere, the City will create two different paths by cutting a physical strip through the centre of the pavement laid, with a third, mulched path included as well where width allows.

With this return to construction also resumes the citywide public consultation. According to the mayor, the City wants “big ideas” from the public on which design features and amenities to incorporate on a permanent basis.

Crosstalk

In the VPSN’s view, there’s an urgent need to deal with the dangerous lack of clarity at major arterial crossings such as 12th, 33rd, 57th and others. Often no obvious crosswalk or other form of safe crossing exists where the greenway intersects the arterial road.

Greater right-of-way clarity needed at 33rd Avenue crossing and elsewhere

At 12th, for example, an outdated and redundant traffic signal stands at the former tracks that local drivers make a habit of overriding, leaving greenway users vulnerable. Currently, concrete barriers and some signage exist at arterial intersections, but changing drivers’ behaviour calls for more permanent and visible installations. Painted and/or raised crosswalks, obvious signals, paved slopes at sidewalks for cyclists and wheelchair users and more direct connectivity between the greenway and bike lanes would all help to create proper rights-of-way.

Vulnerability for greenway users at 12th Avenue intersection

In conversations with the City, I’ve been told that designers are presently looking at options for improving the intersections and that solutions should be in place by the time the temporary pathway completes, but details are still vague at this point.

Another interesting issue has to do with the gardens lining the greenway. A gardener at one of the City-permitted sites has expressed the hope to me that clear separations will be created to protect produce from theft even as the gardens remain visible to the public. Perhaps low hedges might be a solution in some cases. It’s realistic to expect that the paving of the greenway will mean a rise in foot and cyclist traffic. As this flow increases, there’s a delicate balance to be drawn between allowing the public to appreciate the gardens while protecting the plots from destructive incursion. In the VPSN’s view, these tensions point to the need for a more comprehensive approach to stewardship over the pathway from now into the future.

Speak your mind

There are so many ways you can get involved with this unprecedented opportunity to shape our city. What do you want the Arbutus Greenway to look like?

Weigh in

• Respond to the online survey, open now.
• Visit a hot-chocolate information kiosk on February 1.
• Attend a public consultation on February 4, 9 or 11.

Contact the Vancouver Public Space Network

As communications coordinator and Arbutus Greenway project lead for the VPSN, I’ll be representing the Network at a stakeholder workshop hosted by the City on February 2. If you have any ideas or concerns you’d like me to raise, please contact me before then at naomi@vancouverpublicspace.ca.

In late September, the VPSN participated in an initial series of workshops to discuss the creation of a temporary pathway for public use. We followed that up with a formal letter outlining our assessment of the possibilities for both the initial path, and the considerations that we thought should be taken into account with a permanent path.

The following is an excerpt of that letter, which we sent in early October.

The VPSN supports the City’s initiative in seeking to construct a temporary pathway in the near term, with the eventual goal of creating a more permanent sustainable transportation corridor – and public space – unlike any that currently exist within the city. Once completed, the new greenway will be a true asset for residents and visitors to Vancouver. We see great potential for the greenway to go far beyond a safe, comfortable and functional transportation corridor, to become a meaningful place and a destination in its own right.

With that in mind, we have participated in the recent City-led workshops and would like to take this opportunity to highlight a few considerations pertinent to both the design and the decision-making around the temporary and permanent paths.

The choices surrounding the temporary path will shape the extent to which residents will contribute to incorporating the greenway as an appreciable presence in the city over the long term. To that end, the VPSN strongly supports the creation temporary and permanent pathways that are safe, separated and accessible to users of all abilities. This emphasis is in keeping with the City’s position, expressed at the workshops, that safety and accessibility are the two “non-negotiable” variables in the pathway design.

Here are our specific recommendations for the temporary pathway:

(1) Surface materials: While gravel may provide a more ‘natural,’ permeable quality, the VPSN supports the use of asphalt as it will allow the greenway to be used by the greatest range of mobilities. Where standard black asphalt may ‘read’ like roadway, dyed asphalt may help to create pathway that is more visually compatible with the greenway. We would further urge the consideration of permeable asphalt or other paving materials that support stormwater filtration.

(2) Separated paths: To promote safety as well as clarity between users of differing modes, levels of ability and confidence, we support the provision of separate paved paths for cyclists and pedestrians. Experiences on the seawall shared paths have consistently shown that cyclists and pedestrians don’t mix well beyond a certain volume of users. If greenway width allows, perhaps there are even locations where a third path made of gravel could parallel the two main paved paths, in recognition of the fact that many Vancouverites have made it clear that they are seeking more natural materials underfoot.

(3) Optimizing public realm expenditures: The VPSN appreciates the City’s interest in building a temporary pathway that will meet residents’ needs while a more permanent pathway is designed. That said, given the expense, we encourage the City to seek opportunities to minimize the amount of work that needs to be redone later. Where possible, we feel the City should create the best pathway from the beginning so that it won’t need to be replaced entirely when permanent construction begins.

With regard to longer-term planning for the permanent greenway, we recommend the following:

(4) Existing bicycle routes: As the City plans the Arbutus Greenway, we suggest some consideration be given to the role and function of nearby designated bicycle routes (e.g. Trafalgar/Valley, Cypress/Angus). Given the potential for high user-volumes on the greenway, having good parallel routes will help discourage the sorts of conflicts between commuter cyclists and recreational cyclists that has occurred on other popular pathways. (A positive precedent: the Seaside Bypass functions as a good alternative route in relation to the seawall).

(5) Safety features: Lighting, emergency call boxes, multilingual wayfinding and safe crossings with appropriate signage at arterial cross-streets are all important components. Sufficient illumination must be provided for the safety of greenway users without creating “light pollution” – which impacts residents and wildlife alike. At the workshops, the City indicated that it might pilot a project for indirect lighting on the greenway, which we support provided that it offers sufficient brightness for safety.

(6) Sustainability: To the extent that the City itself introduces landscaping, we wholeheartedly endorse drought-resistant native species, including indigenous grasses. We discourage commercial grass and turf, which drain water resources, invite chafer beetle infestation, and would serve little functional purpose on the greenway’s border areas. We encourage the City to consider using parts of the greenway to support – and pilot – sustainable landscaping practices, including permaculture design, pollinator gardens, edible landscaping, and test alternatives (example: the City of Coquitlam is testling lawn alternatives to defer chafer beetles). http://www.tricitynews.com/news/coquitlam-plants-lawn-alternatives-to-deter-chafer-beetles-1.2192814.

(7) Community ambience and cityscapes: The greenway passes through an engaging diversity of environments, and connects many key assets (including an array of community gardens, City Farmer, and other key sites). At the workshops we attended, residents strongly supported the idea of maintaining the greenway’s community feel. We support this, as it ensures a strong and authentic ‘sense of place’ is fostered as part of the greenway design. Attention should be paid to balancing the greenway’s movement function with this community ambience, and we encourage investigating future stewardship options that enshrine attention to this balance.

(8) Comfort and amenities: In order for public spaces to support a wide range of users, they require comfort-enhancing amenities. Benches, tables, drinking fountains and washrooms should be placed at appropriate junctures along the greenway.

We further support in principle the idea (identified by the City) of buying decommissioned CP cars and converting them into coffee shops or comfort stations along the path (akin to San Francisco’s collecting vintage streetcars from around the world and putting them back into actual use on its own streets). The balance between enhancing public space through economic activity, and overly commercializing the space is a delicate one. Our support is tempered by desire to see further discussion on the nature of any such commercial activity so that the various considerations at play can be explored more fully.

(9) Safety: Could be supported and enhanced by ensuring that greenway design enables good natural surveillance and incorporates CPTED design principles. As with other public spaces, VPD bike and mounted police units could also be considered if warranted.

(10) Railway heritage components: We are heartened at statements made during the workshops that the City is paying attention to incorporating or otherwise retaining heritage railway markers along the Arbutus Greenway. We encourage the incorporation of the preserved decommissioned tracks as decorative elements and urge the City to leave existing railway markers in place (these include the short wooden poles in Kerrisdale Village, the decommissioned wooden utility poles south of 16th). Where railroad crossing signs and lights have to be removed by regulation (from 12th, 41st, etc.), we recommend that the City refurbish and transplant these signs as decorative elements elsewhere on the corridor.

(11) Other placemaking opportunities: Finally, the opportunity to further enhance the greenway through other community-led placemaking opportunities should not be overlooked. Part of the appeal of the greenway relates to its history of incremental additions by members of the adjacent communities (primarily in the form of gardens, but also other gathering areas, community art and other initiatives). Supporting community members to engage with, and steward, the greenway in this fashion is key. So too is the opportunity to enable other placemaking activities. An enabling approach such as this could support reconciliation with local First Nations, foster a greater sense of inclusion for newcomers, or provide a new and different type of canvas for members of the city’s artistic community.

After several months of negotiations, the City of Vancouver and CP Rail have reached an agreement on the future of the Arbutus Corridor.

The City will purchase the 9km rail line for $55 million. It’s a deal that will allow the City and its residents to acquire a tract of land running almost the full length of the municipality – a total of 42 acres of open space between Milton Street (on the Fraser River) and West 1st Avenue.

All in all, this is an exciting turn of events, especially given the sometimes challenging discussions that have taken place between the two parties over the few years.

CP had stopped using the tracks in 2001, but had recently cleared them again – along with the adjacent community gardens that had been created in the interim – after indicating an interest in reintroducing trains along the route. Discussions around the possible sale of the land appeared to stall early – CP at one point said the land was worth almost eight times the sale price. Thankfully though, both parties persevered to in the interest in resolving the issue.

One of the many gardens that lay along the Corridor. Photo Adam O’Neill

Building on the Corridor’s recent legacy as a greenspace, the City has already indicated that the site will contain a “greenway” – for pedestrians, cyclists and community gardens.

Interesting, the City has also indicated that a portion of the lands may be considered for future use as a streetcar or light rail route. (A nod to local history: the old Vancouver-Richmond Interurban Line traversed parts of the same route in the first half of the 20th century).

Just for fun: the Lulu Island Interurban Station – at 3rd and Granville, ca 1910

Also in the agreement is an arrangement that allows ‘excess lands’ – those not used for the greenway or transportation purposes – to be redeveloped. It will be important to monitor how this component of the arrangement evolves, especially given the revenue scenarios that were negotiated. Depending on the extend of development, the overall cost of the purchase could be offset, even eliminated.

It is difficult to know what, if anything, this provision might mean at this stage – but it would be reasonable to assume that the City is considering some dimension of cost-recovery as part of the transaction. That’s a fair and reasonable thing to do, but of course it will be the details that count. Locating density near to key community assets is a respectable planning move, but it may also come with its share of controversy among those community members along the corridor opposed to the introduction of new residential (or other) uses.

In the meantime, we’ll take this opportunity to endorse the acquisition of the corridor. The purchase, while coming with a hefty price-tag, is a win for the city, its residents and visitors alike. A well-designed greenway will be a true asset to the city, and a nearly unprecedented addition to Vancouver’s public realm.

The City is already floating ideas about the consultation and planning process.

Additional details can be found in the lengthy media release below.

City of Vancouver
News Release
March 7, 2016

City and CP agree to landmark agreement for the creation of the Arbutus Greenway

The City of Vancouver (City) and Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (CP) have reached a historic agreement that will secure the legacy of the Arbutus Greenway for public use for years to come. The City has agreed to purchase the railway route from CP, which represents 42 acres of open space running approximately 9 km from Milton Street to 1st Avenue for $55 million.

“The City’s historic purchase of the Arbutus railway is great news for Vancouver,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson. “Thanks to this landmark agreement, the City will be able to transform the area into an outstanding greenway and connect neighbourhoods from False Creek to Marpole. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, not unlike New York’s High Line and other international examples. City Council is looking forward to the next steps in this process and to working with the community to enhance the greenway for all users.”

“For many years now, CP has been involved in conversations with the City about the future of the Arbutus corridor,” said Keith Creel, CP’s President and Chief Operating Officer. “We are pleased that today’s landmark agreement allows the City to create a transportation corridor and greenway while providing a fair return to CP and our shareholders.”

This agreement signals the end of a long negotiation process between the City and CP that lasted over four years, and ensures that Vancouver residents can continue to use the transportation corridor and greenway as a walking and cycling route. In 2013, the City included the Arbutus Corridor as a green transportation corridor in the City’s Regional Context Statement, approved by Council and the Metro Vancouver Board, and is now integrated into the provincially-approved Regional Growth Strategy. The City and CP are pleased to have arrived at this landmark agreement that provides new opportunities for the creation of a greenway.

City staff will now begin to look to improve or upgrade certain parts of the Corridor to enhance public space, and will launch a dedicated Arbutus Greenway Project Office to oversee the design process and solicit public input on the final design of the transportation corridor and greenway.

BACKGROUND

Summary of transaction:

• Purchase price: $55 million
• Title to corridor properties (~42 acres spanning ~9km) from Milton Street to 1st Avenue transfers to City on closing and payment of $55 million
• Lands not needed for transportation corridor, if any, (“Excess Lands”) may be repurposed for other uses, or sold. If these lands are sold, City to share a portion of revenues with CPR

Revenue sharing options:

1. Sharing of net proceeds from sale of Excess Lands
________________Canadian Pacific Railway City of Vancouver
First $50 million 75% 25%
Second $50 million 50% 50%
Third $50 million 25% 75%
Thereafter 0% 100%

OR

2. CP may exercise option for lands between West 1st and 5th Avenues. If they do so then there is no sharing on any other portion of the Corridor that might be sold. If CP receives more than $75 million on the option sites, then the City will receive 50% of such excess proceeds.

Source of funding for City of Vancouver:

1. Property Endowment Fund: $20 million
2. Capital Facilities Reserve: $35 million

Removal of rails/ties:

• CP to remove rails and ties, beginning within a year, to enable the City to construct a transportation greenway and reserve space for future light rail/streetcar

Environmental Liability:

• City has now completed its due diligence (reviewed all of the CP provided environmental reports and completed environmental testing – both onsite and offsite)
  • No significant contamination was identified on or adjacent to the Arbutus Corridor
  • No further investigation work is recommended at this time
  • For transportation corridor improvements, no further environmental work is anticipated but to be further confirmed by new project office

Next steps:

Design for walking/cycling/light rail:

• City to expedite design areas for walking and cycling use, and design area for future light rail/streetcar use
• City can begin construction of transportation greenway as soon as rail is removed and it is anticipated that some portions will be completed by the end of 2017 and the remainder by end of 2018
• Once above designs are prepared, City can commence planning and public process to consider if there are any excess lands (with goal to complete public and regulatory process within four years after closing) and if so, how these are to be developed

Establish Arbutus Greenway Project Office:

• City will establish a dedicated office to expedite design of the transportation corridor for greenway and space for light rail
• Estimated funding to establish project office and complete transportation corridor design and public engagement work, and planning and disposition of Excess Land, if applicable: is up to $3 million

History of the Arbutus Corridor:

• The Arbutus Corridor includes land granted to CP by the Provincial Crown and land purchased by CP from third parties

• In 1995, City Council approved the 1995 Greenways Plan which included the Arbutus Corridor as a future greenway to be called the Arbutus Way. Greenways were defined as “green paths” for pedestrians and cyclists that follow rivers, streets, beaches, railways, ridges and ravines. Their purpose is to expand the opportunities for urban recreation and to enhance the experience of nature and city life

• In July 2000, the City enacted the Arbutus Corridor Official Development Plan By-Law (ODP) that designated the corridor as a public thoroughfare for transportation and “greenways” like heritage walks, nature trails and cyclist paths

• In 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the City’s right to determine how land within Vancouver can be used. Since then, the Arbutus Corridor has been used without legal authority by the public as a walking and cycling route and home of multiple community gardens

• In October 2012, the Transportation 2040 Plan was adopted by Council and it maintained the objective to develop the Corridor as an area of focus to becoming an active transportation greenway, as well as future light rail for transit

• In 2013, the City included the Arbutus Corridor as a green transportation corridor in the City’s Regional Context Statement, approved by Council and the Metro Vancouver Board, and is now integrated into the provincially-approved Regional Growth Strategy

• From 2011-2014, City and CP negotiated over the sale of the Corridor with negotiations ending unsuccessfully in September 2014

• From November 2015 – January 2016, negotiations resume with CP with key terms for purchase set out in a non-binding MOU dated January 19, 2016

Community Gardens and trees:

• As part of the City’s Community Garden Program, there are approximately 350 permitted garden plots on City-owned land near the existing rail line. In the short term, there will be no changes impacting community gardens, however it is important that gardeners maintain their existing footprint and do not encroach onto neighbouring land including the rail corridor

• Permitted gardens are:
  • Arbutus Victory Gardens – Between 49th & 57th and 65th & 68th– 68 Plots
  • Kerrisdale Community Garden – 7599 Angus Dr – 30 plots
  • The World in a Garden – south of 57th & East Boulevard – 8 plots (communal gardening)
  • JFSA Community Garden – 57th & East Boulevard – ~46 plot (communal gardening)
  • Maple Community Garden – 1900 block of West 6th Ave – 44 plots
  • Cypress Community Garden – 1800 block of West 6th Ave – 69 plots
  • Pine Street Community Garden – 1600 block & 1700 block of West 6th Ave – 92 plots

• Over the next year, there will be some light construction along the line (i.e. the rail ties will be removed), so it is important to continue to respect the land boundaries confirmed with CP in 2014

• The Park Board took steps in March 2015 to save trees before the planned CP Rail reclamation of the old rail bed along the Arbutus Corridor began. Park Board crews relocated trees in good condition as determined by the City Arborist, most fruit trees, to existing parks and new homes today. The tree transplanting supports the Park Board’s Urban Forest Strategy, a key aim of which is to protect a healthy, mature tree canopy in Vancouver

• Workers first hand dug smaller trees with a shovel for donation toTreeKeepers, a non-profit organization that will find new homes for them. Larger trees were transplanted with a mechanical tree spade. The Park Board transplanted the majority of the larger trees to McCleery Golf Course greenway

The Vancouver Courier published pictures of the initial garden clearance which you can view here. While ongoing, the timeline for the removal of specific community gardens at other sites is unclear.

Our experience is captured in a blog article written before the community garden clearances started, and highlights the optimism the corridor provoked in many of us just over a week ago. Even now after over a week of clearances, parts of the central and northern parts of the corridor remain as we found it, but we have no idea for how much longer. Gardeners along the entire route are scrambling to mitigate the damage to gardens and orchards by removing what they can.

Meanwhile, the City of Vancouver and CP Rail seem to be at loggerheads over the possibility of a land sale. At this point, there appears to be a sizeable difference in the valuation of the land. As well, it can be expected that any discussions around the purchase of this railway line/greenspace will continue to have an added pre-election political dimension.

We live in a small space just shy of 700 sq feet for the three of us so we spend a lot of time out of the home as a necessity. Adjacent to our new home are the abandoned Canadian Pacific Railway rail tracks along West 6th Avenue. Much of the corridor nearby has been transformed into vibrant gardens where hundreds of people stroll through and enjoy with their friends or pets each day.

Arbutus Corridor photo by adamdoneill

Unfortunately, there weren’t any available spaces in the existing gardens close by for us to jump in and get gardening. High in demand and with limited space, this growing and increasingly densifying neighbourhood has few options for fellow apartment dwellers to get a little dirty and try to grow their own food. On my frequent walks down the tracks, I met some like minded folks in the neighbourhood and we quickly transformed a piece of the blackberry, weed choked and garbage strewn land that remained into one of the city’s first community orchards. Over the next several years we literally built community through the continued development of our community garden space.

Arbutus Corridor photo by adamdoneill

It’s been a remarkable experiment in local social capital development as people have shared their garden ideas, lessons and experience and offered others a chance to try their luck at gardening. In our particular garden we have a diverse group of folks, which keeps it interesting and accessible. There is now a varied group of people who contribute to maintaining the lands as an attractive and welcoming community amenity. Local service groups use some of the garden space for therapy or skills development. These service groups offer members with mental health issues a chance to garden with other community members, or teach others to grow herbs for cooking classes. I’ve met grandparents who bring their grandchildren to the garden to pass on their garden knowledge in Italian or Cantonese, new parents who show their toddlers where their food comes from and students having fun with their first garden experience.

Pretty much every visit I make to the garden I am reminded on how fortunate we are to have such a place when people passing by comment on how much they appreciate the gardens.

Canadian Pacific Railway has recently posted notices and no trespassing signs next to the gardens. The Railway claims they are considering “regular rail operations” on the overgrown and rotten rail tracks. The railway wants us (and you) to stay off the abandoned property and remove the verdant trees, shrubs and flowers by July 31st, 2014. It is hard to conceive that there is any viable place to transport goods along this corridor. We’re also a little surprised that after 14 years of no activity or sign of rail work that Canadian Pacific Railway needs to resume in the middle of the summer with the gardens in full bloom.

Arbutus Corridor photo by adamdoneill

Garden Gathering on July 26

There will be a gathering on Saturday, July 26th/2014 (11-5) in the gardens along the tracks between Fir and Maple. Local gardeners will be offering tours and speaking about their gardens; some of who have been gardening here close to 25 years. This may be your last chance to enjoy this much loved community space.

What you can do

If you like what you see I encourage you to write to both Canadian Pacific Railway and Vancouver City Council to preserve this important community space.

- Adam Vasilevich, VPSN Member and Gardener

—-

Also, on August 9

VPSN is planning on hosting an ‘communal cross-town stroll’ along the entire route, from Granville Island to Marpole, to enjoy the beautiful gardens and pocket greenspaces that have been nurtured next to the tracks, and to explore the diversity of verdant neighbourhoods that the Arbutus Corridor passes through. We’ll also be on the look-out for what changes CP has made to the gardens since the July 31 deadline. Stay tuned for more details on this important corridor in the Arbutus neighbourhood.