The Uptown Business Association is concerned about the impacts that a construction project may be having on pedestrian traffic in the commercial area.
Bart Slotman, chair of the Uptown Business Association, expressed concern about construction taking place on Sixth Street, between Princess Street and Seventh Avenue. He said “a bunch of fences, some bollards and some concrete blocks” currently surround the site.
“The loading is done in the middle of the street, and pedestrians have basically been redirected to walk down this pathway in the middle of the road,” he told council. “Frankly, it is extremely dangerous, and it's shocking to us that that continues.”
Slotman said businesses “reluctantly” went along with the plan to have trucks access the site via Sixth Street, saying they were told that would only be done during site excavation, as a way of preventing dump trucks from barrelling down Princess Street.
“But guess what? The excavation stage is finished, the crane is up, and the situation continues,” he said. “And that's really what made me come to you to address this today. Because I think this needs to change and needs to change quite shortly.”
Slotman said developers working in other cities are told to use the side streets or alleys, and to stay off of the main arteries when working on projects.
“Here in New West, however, it seems that Princess and Seventh are sacrosanct. Princess because there's residents living on that street; Seventh because it's a bike lane,” he said. “So all activities basically have been directed to use Sixth Street, and that compromises pedestrian safety. It also compromises the retail businesses on that street.”
To add insult to injury, Slotman said there was only one lane of alternating traffic on Sixth Street for three days last week because a crane was being set up. In Vancouver, he said that’s something that would happen on a weekend.
“Then there's total lack of communication between this developer and the business community. They send out a few little last-minute notices to the immediate people around it, and that's about it,” he said. “So yes, it's caused frustration on our side.”
During the rezoning process, Slotman said the business community was promised there would be “covered hoarding” along the Sixth Street sidewalk.
“What that would accomplish is a number of things. Number 1, obviously, is a safe environment for pedestrians to pass, but it also provides real continuity between the both sides of the construction area,” he said. “It hides the mess behind the wall, so to say, and obviously lessens the impact on the street.”
Beyond the site-specific issues, Slotman suggested there is a “lack of policy” in New Westminster regarding construction in commercial areas. He said the Uptown Business Association would like to see policies in place regarding construction activities, such as crane installation times, requirements for pedestrian continuity and construction hoarding.
City responds
Lisa Leblanc, the city’s director of engineering, said the city is balancing a variety of needs related to this construction site, including those of the Uptown Business Association, the Royal Canadian Legion, the Royal City Centre (particularly as it relates to servicing on Princess Street), area residents and the Crosstown Greenway users.
Responding to Slotman’s concerns, Leblanc said the city’s preference to keep as much construction activity and staging as possible on private property, but noted this is a “very, very constrained” site.
“In fact, the existing sidewalk that was there before was half on private property and half on public property. So, it's a super challenging site,” she said. “The intention for the existing setup is for that to be in place during excavation and construction of the parkade, and then we'll have an opportunity to revisit it because there will be a lot more opportunity to shift activity onto the private side of then (property) line.”
With respect to hoarding, she said there is no overhead hoarding because it was determined to be unnecessary during the current phase, as no materials are being lifted over the sidewalk.
Leblanc said staff have spent quite a bit of time observing pedestrian and motor vehicle movements at the site, and are comfortable with the situation.
“Based on our observations when we're there, we haven't observed anything of concern, and certainly wouldn't characterize the setup as dangerous,” she said.
Leblanc said Slotman’s appearance before council was the first time she had heard communication between the contractor and businesses raised as a concern. She said staff would follow up with the contractor to ensure that the communication with the business community meets the city’s requirement.
Coun. Daniel Fontaine said it’s a “warning sign” when the BIA attends council to highlight concerns in the uptown. While he’s not an engineer, Fontaine said the area “looks very scary” and doesn’t look as safe for pedestrians as other parts of the city.
Mayor Patrick Johnstone requested that staff ensure the sidewalk or the alternative pathway by the site is safe, and consider if any measures need to be taken to ensure it remains safe. He also asked that staff continue to have “diligence” on the site – ensuring the route is safe and confirming the transportation plan that’s been set up is being followed.
“Sometimes those transportation plans slip a little bit until staff get there again to sort of make things correct,” he said.
Weekday or weekend crane installations?
In response to Slotman’s concerns about the crane installation, Fontaine put forward a motion that council direct staff to limit the installation of construction cranes to the weekend period, unless an exemption is provided by council.
Leblanc told council the crane installation at the Sixth Street construction site did not go quite as planned.
“In this particular instance, the crane installation ran into problems and extended over a much longer period than then was originally understood,” she said. “There were technical problems, there were problems with a part.”
Fontaine said his motion would allow developers to apply for exemptions to allow cranes to be installed on weekdays, but those requests would have to be considered by council. He said he’s unaware of any “massive community or neighbourhood protests” around weekend crane installations in Vancouver.
Johnstone said he’s prefer that council support a less prescriptive motion that allows staff to come back to council with some recommendations on how to manage this issue.
“If we limit it to weekends, then we are unnecessarily causing noise and disruption to neighbours, when maybe there might not have been a significant traffic disruption related to the crane installation,” he said. “So I think there's a lot of different impacts on the community related to any construction, and we have to figure out a way to balance between them all.”
Coun. Nadine Nakagawa agreed, saying she’d like to get a staff report and get more information about the “potential unintended consequences” of the motion.
Coun. Ruby Campbell said she’d like staff to report back about the implications on residents as well as businesses before making a decision.
Coun. Jaimie McEvoy also supported referring the issue to staff.
“I don't want to vote on it today and then have developers calling next week all upset about the restriction – or find out about some consequence I could never have thought of or anticipated,” he said. “It's very simple; in terms of our responsibility, when you adopt public policy, you do so in an informed way.”
In a 5-2 vote, council supported referring the issue to staff. Johnstone, and councillors Campbell, McEvoy, Nakagawa and Tasha Henderson supported referral, while New West Progressive councillors Fontaine and Paul Minhas opposed referral.
Fontaine said he was “absolutely flummoxed” that council wouldn’t support his motion.
“It's our job as governors of the city to make decisions and to send directives to staff, in particular, around policy,” he said. “And this, to me, seems like a bit of a no-brainer.”
📣 SOUND OFF: What do you think? Should cranes only be installed on weekends in New West or should they be erected on weekdays? Do you care either way? Send us a letter
