A quick round-up of some public space related items appearing in front of City Council this week.

Viva Vancouver – Temporary Public Space for summertime fun

This week’s regular Council begins with a presentation on the Viva Vancouver program (formerly Open Streets/Summer Spaces). Last year, the program was responsible for supporting a range of interventions – including Parallel Park, Liveable laneways, Picnurbia (at the 800-block of Robson) and a number of other projects… including some of the VPSN’s work with Laser Graffiti and Robson Square.

A Call for Proposals for 2012 projects was rolled out earlier this year… and today we learn about the proposed projects that have been identified for 2012. Exciting!

There’s no report online at the moment, but you can read additional details on the meeting agenda! Go Viva! We love this program.

:: Meeting Agenda

Rezoning application for 1401 Comox

The West End has seen a number of development proposals in recent years, some more controversial than others. The proposed 22-storey tower at 1401 Comox Street is one of these.

Council will be considering a recommendation to refer the rezoning application associated with this project to a public hearing. You can read the overview of the project in the associated staff report.

For your interest, the public space component of the development proposal includes “an 8.7 m by 37 m (28.5 ft. by 121.4 ft.) landscaped public open space, which incorporates a children’s play area, a community garden, and an open lawn area with public seating. These areas are to be accessible to the public, providing a useful addition to the public realm.”

:: Read the 1401 Comox Street Report

Pedestrian Safety and Active Transportation

On Wednesday the Planning, Transportation and Environment Committee of Council will be presented with two transportation-related reports.

The first report covers a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan that was commissioned as part of the City’sGreenestCityinitiative. The report notes:

“… that pedestrian safety in Vancouver has generally been improving and that Vancouver performs well compared to peer cities. However, pedestrians are still vulnerable. While pedestrians are involved in less than 2 percent of all traffic accidents, pedestrians account for 45 percent of all traffic fatalities in Vancouver. Of particular note, 75 percent of collisions involving pedestrians occurred at intersections, largely occurring when vehicles turned left or right. Collisions were also more frequent between 3 and 8 pm, and during hours of darkness in the winter months.”

The report looks at the ‘when, where, what and how’ of pedestrian/car collisions that were reported between 2005-2010 and identifies a dozen key issues (including night-time pedestrian safety, street-crossing supports, age-friendly design) that can be focused on as part of future work to improve pedestrian safety.

:: Read the Pedestrian Safety Report

The second report of interest concerns the 2012 Active Transportation Capital projects. Here, the City staff are looking for Council approval for five key projects: (1) the 45th Avenue Bikeway between Ontario and Nanaimo Streets; (2) the Dumfries Bikeway between 37^th and 59^th Avenue; (3) the Ridgeway Greenway revised plan between Nanaimo and Rupert Streets; (4) the North Arm Trail revised plan between Cambie and Ontario Streets; and (5) improvements to the Adanac Bikeway along Union Street (at Hawks Avenue).

The report also references other potential active transportation projects that might be considered as part of the updated Transportation 2040 plan.

:: Read the Active Transportation 2012 Capital Projects Report.

Picnurbia, at the 800-block of Robson Street, Summer 2011.

UPDATE (Jan 23/12): The City has extended the deadline for the first of its two Request for Expressions of Interest processes pertaining to the creation of temporary summertime public spaces. Seasonal and Recurring/Roaming/On-street applications are now due at the same time – on February 14, 2012. 

Parallel Park, Picnurbia, Laser Graffiti… these were three of a number of temporary public space initiatives funded last summer as part of the City’s Viva Vancouver program.

Maybe you have an idea for something equally cool for the public realm? If so, sharpen your pencils and get planning. The City is now gearing up for a new series of summertime space endeavors and has issued a pair of Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEOI) documents.

The first, due at the end of the month, (now, February 14, 2012) is for the creation of seasonal public spaces, which are defined as “pedestrian oriented temporary public spaces that are created through the closure of select roadway on a 24-hour basis for an extended duration, ranging from weeks to months.”

The second, due on February 14, is for recurring public spaces, roaming public spaces and on-street murals (in some ways a bit less “fixed” or large-scale than with the first application, but still intended to be mostly site specific). The City’s RFEOI defines these three types of space as:

Roaming public spaces use select roadway to create pedestrian-oriented temporary public spaces that may last from a few hours to a day. [T]hese creative spaces are intended to be experienced by the public as ‘unexpected’ or as ‘spontaneous’…

Recurring public spaces are pedestrian-oriented temporary public spaces that are created through the closure of select roadway for one or two days on a regular weekly basis over a period of three consecutive weeks or more…

An on-street mural is artwork that is painted directly on to the road surface. The mural would provide the neighbourhood with unique art that has distinguished characteristics and/or wayfinding opportunities…[Portland’s CityRepair ‘Intersection Repair‘ initiative is a great example of this sort of thing – ed.]

To apply to create one of these spaces start by reviewing the relevant RFEOI document(s). The application utilizes the City’s standardized procurement form, which is longer and a bit more daunting than the 2011 documents. Take your time to read the questions through carefully.

You can find them here:

• Seasonal Public Spaces (Due January 31, 2012 - extended to February 14, 2012)
  http://vancouver.ca/fs/bid/bidopp/EOI/RFEOI-PS20110710A.htm
• Recurring, Roaming Public Spaces and On-street Murals (Due February 14, 2012) – http://vancouver.ca/fs/bid/bidopp/EOI/RFEOI-PS20120041.htm

Note that the process for applying is different – and a bit more complicated – than with the 2011 round. The RFEOIs are just as they say – an expression of interest. This means that if your idea passes muster (i.e. is well thought out, financially sound and has community support) then you’ll be invited to flesh out the concept as part of a more robust application process.

(If you get stuck, don’t worry. You can contact the ever-helpful Viva team of Jen Sheel or Krisztina Kassay via the City’s Viva website)

Okay public space brainiacs – time to design some awesome summertime interventions. Go to it!

A quick thank you to everyone who stopped by yesterday’s community market at the 800-block of Robson Street. Despite murmurings to the contrary, the weather turned out to be awesome — a perfect backdrop for the 30+ local vendors and dj who set up shop, and the many many visitors that took in the fun.

This was the first of our VPSN experiments with the space — all designed to see how the 800-block could function were the street to be remain closed to vehicular traffic. On that note, we’re pleased to report that the 800-block worked extraordinarily well as a market area. The surrounding architecture – the neoclassical finesse of the Art Gallery and the modernist trappings of Arthur Erickson’s Law Courts — created an all-important human-scale. This, in turn, allowed the market to enhance the ‘feel’ of the space, rather than appearing at odds with it. Add to that the high volume of pedestrian traffic (the 800-block is one of the city’s busiest pedestrian thoroughfares) and the fit worked quite well. As one visitor from Italy noted: “it’s lively, like one of our piazzas.” Fantastico!

And talk about complimentary activities — the excellent Picnurbia installation (a rolling picnic “beach” located on the east end of the block) – provided a great resting area for people once they’d taken in all the local arts and crafts on display. If you haven’t yet checked it out, have a peek.

The VPSN would like to thank our collaborators: Blim (www.blim.ca) for their hard work assembling vendors and handling so many of the logistics, as well as the City of Vancouver’s “Viva Vancouver” program – which supported the endeavor.

Finally, as a number of you have noted, the trolley wires were reinstalled through the 800-block. We are sad to report that, despite our efforts to the contrary (and despite being closed for two years), it seems the plan is to re-open Robson Street to vehicles sometime around Labour Day. We’re not yet clear on whether the plan is for buses only, or buses and cars. Either way, it’s unfortunate. As yesterday’s market – as well as the Picnurbia installation – show, Robson is perhaps the best space in the City for a pedestrian-only space of this sort.

For that reason, in addition to doing a number of research studies (timing, vendor studies, and pedestrian counts) as part of yesterday’s market, the VPSN crew was also on hand to gather signatures for a petition to keep the space free of vehicular traffic. If you’d like to add your voice to the list, please send us an email saying so. You can reach us at robsonsquare [at] vancouverpublicspace.ca. To make it official, we’ll need your full name and address — just as if you were signing a petition on the street. Please consider signing on — and with any luck we can still turn this one around.