Here’s a snapshot of our take, starting with some of the things we like:

• The identification of character areas is helpful. Treating Gastown as an assemblage of special places, qualities and opportunities (“line”, “square”, “gateway,”) provides an accessible way of structuring the plan.
• Focus and attention on the renewal of Maple Tree Square and Water Street – as two of the central opportunities for public life. These, along with Trounce/Blood Alley, represent the key anchors in the neighbourhood.
• The changes to Cordova Street to improve automobile transformation (and which resolve many of the transportation issues that come with pedestrianizing the street).
• Continued foregrounding of work with Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations and urban Indigenous communities related to cultural visibility, placemaking and placekeeping.

The big missed opportunity:

• By stepping away from a permanent or even full seasonal pedestrianization of Water Street, the Plan is ultimately recommending a status quo approach to automobile access. Yes, there will be special event closures, but the street redesign is based on it being accessible to vehicles for much of the calendar year – which ultimately constrains (and literally bisects) the programming and public life opportunities for Maple Tree Square and Water Street. The “special events” nature of the approach also creates financial, operational, and planning considerations – which, among other things, should be thought about carefully given the increase in costs and loss of funding reported by several festivals in the past few months.

A possible efficiency:

• As we noted in our comments on the separate capital funding motion you will be considering, the Plan is to be accompanied by proposed funding for Maple Tree Square but not Water Street. We question whether it wouldn’t be more efficient (and less disruptive) to undertake both projects at once – which could also support a more coherent detailed design process.

Some other things that seem strange:

• Flagging the need to use “resilient, accessible and high quality materials” in a context responsive fashion should be a standard City practice, not a novel direction for Gastown.
• Ditto the direction on public safety. This should also be standard practice. Calling it out here seems to imply that it’s not an issue elsewhere.

Finally, a few things that we were hoping to see included in Plan policy. Many of these were shared with Council in 2023 and 2024.

• Using street-end segments of Cambie, Abbott, and Carrall (north of Water) for smaller gathering areas.
• Re-opening – or at least acknowledging the long-term opportunity presented by the CPR right-of-way that runs diagonally between Columbia and Pender.
• Supporting placemaking interventions in Le Magasin Alley, Harbour Light Alley – both distinct, nicely scaled, and full of possibility.
• Thinking long-term about a linkage to connect CRAB Park through Carrall Street.
• Referencing the bigger public space network – including connections to Granville Street and the Waterfront Hub.
• The opportunity for an additional gateway ‘treatment’ on any N/S street is a curious omission, particularly given the potential for Carrall and Abbott Street.

The Plan is due to be discussed at Council today – and we look forward to seeing where the conversation goes.