A New West resident fears a rain garden on Eighth Avenue is a hazard for motorists.
Larry Church appeared before council on April 8 to express concern about the rain gardens that have been built at Eighth Avenue and Fifth Street. Given that New Westminster has one of the highest percentages of impervious surfaces in Metro Vancouver, Church said rain gardens are needed.
“I do love the rain gardens,” he said. “They are beautiful. And we need more of them. Lots more.”
Church, however, believes the rain gardens at Eighth Avenue and Fifth Street have been constructed in a way that makes the road difficult for motorists to manoeuvre. He said the way the rain gardens have been constructed at this location has “choked off the street to such a narrow opening” and created too tight of a turning radius.
This turning radius makes it so cars have to go into the opposite lane to make the curve, Church said.
“The radius that they've used for this corner doesn't seem to be adequate enough for larger vehicles … to make that corner,” he added. “If you've got a pickup truck, just a standard pickup truck, it makes it very difficult to get around the corner without bumping the curb with the rear wheels.”
The narrowness of the intersection, the curvature of the rain garden, and the lack of markings on the curb are among Church’s concerns about the rain garden at this location.
“On a rainy evening in the dark, there is no marker showing where the curb is. So, it makes it even worse,” he told council Monday. “When you look at the curb itself, there's lots of black marks and … there's tire marks going through the soil.”
Church said that shows that vehicles are mounting the curb when they’re trying to turn onto the 700 block of Fifth Street.
“That's my concern about that corner.”
Coun. Daniel Fontaine said he’s visited a friend who lives in the area.
“I also noticed the marks on the curb, I noticed the soil has been driven over,” he said. “I've had to myself try to manoeuvre around (the curb), and it is incredibly challenging – and I don't have a big vehicle.”
Fontaine said he asked his friend about that particular site and was told “there's a lot more honking, a lot more aggressive behavior, a lot more shouting” since the rain garden was created.
“It's become this real choke point in an area that was relatively noisy to begin with, but the noise level has super gone up as a result of the rain gardens,” he said at Monday’s council meeting. “And I agree with you that rain gardens are beautiful, but they have to be designed in a way that don't completely impede the traffic.”
Fontaine encouraged staff to visit the area to observe the concerns raised by Church.
“You will see the evidence is all there that there are trucks and vehicles driving right over the rain gardens and lots of markings on the curbs and it's incredibly narrow,” he said.
