CMHC wants you to offer your thoughts and proposals as a part of their visioning exercise called: “Granville Island 2040”. Look for a call to consultants on May 9.
Granville Island 2040
Dr. Michael Stevenson, President Emeritus and Vice-Chancellor of Simon Fraser University, will lead the project on behalf of CMHC. A member advisory board including representatives from Granville Island and the Granville Island Trust will be formed to help guide the process and decisions of this plan. The plan will also examine the best governance structure for the continued long-term success of Granville Island.. . . .
. . . . There will be community consultation from the beginning of the Plan’s development through to its final draft. Requests for Proposals to prepare a Land Use Vision & Strategy, and a long-term renewed Vision for Arts & Culture, both of which will include public consultation, will be issued on May 9th.
It is anticipated that the Plan will be completed by the end of 2016.
A meagre bit of guidance on how to get on the advisory board HERE.
One big question: what replaces Emily Carr University?
Here’s some local reaction from Mike Howell in the Courier:
An advisory board and the Granville Island Trust will help guide the process and decisions of the plan, which will also determine the best governance structure for the island . . .
. . . Stevenson said he agreed with Fry’s description of the island as a jewel. He said it was a success story in Canadian urban planning and the property is much loved by Vancouverites and tourists. But, he added, inevitably after 40 years they are “aging issues that need attention.”
“There are a number of infrastructure maintenance issues, there are traffic management issues, there is transit connectivity as a continuing problem and there have been changes in the 40 years that have meant the competitive landscape for commercial enterprises, especially the food market, has changed markedly,” he said. “But nobody wants to re-invent the wheel or fix something that isn’t broken. That’s for sure.”
With the 18 million dollars City of Vancouver and Federal money already spent in the past on the False Creek/ Downtown Railway right of way track and infrastructure, this is a perfect opportunity to re-institute that electric transit railway as both a tourist and civic facility connecting the Olympic Station on the Canada Line, Science World and going into Granville Island-and around? Many thousands of locals and tourists used that line for the Olympics-locals for shopping at the Island, and many would use it today to avoid the hassle of trying to park there. An estimated 15 million dollars would provide the upgrade (new copper wire etc) and the heritage yet new handicap accessible trams/streetcars. See the Friends of the Olympic line website to see what other cities have done. We are ahead of other cities as we have an existing re-conditioned right of way and track. Vancouver just spent 15 million on bike road upgrades so the money is there from the city and/or from sponsors or the feds.
Graville Island is obviously a success. But not because of me. I could never stand the place: first because of the unpleasant experience of hunting for a place to park; second because once parked, one spends much of one’s time dodging moving and parked cars. It feels to me like a place for cars, not people. I have always thought that a way needs to be found to get visitors there but keep their cars off the island.
Exactly. It is not an example of “shared space” as some suggest. It is a parking lot and has all the charm of a parking lot, which is basically none.
It is essentially the motordom take on the town square. Instead of being a place where locals shop and hangout, it currently depends on people driving from around the region (or at least many of the merchants think that).
Time for a total rethink. It really, really needs to be car free.
For that to happen public transit or ped access needs to be FAST and convenient, i.e. close by. For example; with the Broadway subway (years, likely a decade away) we could build a line under Granville to Broadway @ Granville that also stops at Granville Island (or above it). To my knowledge, that is not in the 2040 transit plan. Broadway to Granville Island is quite a hike, especially uphill from GV Island to the station. The little ferries are far too expensive and inconvenient, with long lineups in the summer.
How about a low bridge across False Creek / hanging off the very high car oriented GV bridge ? Sailboats have to be parked west of Granville. Ped access from north shore of False Creek has to be re-thought.
An elevator from the proposed Granville Bridge Greenway to Granville Island would be an awesome way of getting people from downtown to the Island. Also, the Arbutus Corridor would be a great conduit for getting people on foot and on bike to the Island. Upgrades to the seawall will also help. How about a parking garage off Island and make the Island predominantly car free? Bike share. Pedicabs. Lots of options. We already have the False Creek Ferries. I might actually visit there when GI becomes car free.
Currently, Granville Island is like an auto-dependant cul-de-sac with the majority of visits coming via the causeway beneath the bridge. As Geof and Richard note, with the excessive amount of land being taken over by the movement of cars and parking, it is somewhat less than a real people place. With all these cars and the hazard of the tracks, (which will never be used for a streetcar) it isn’t that friendly for cycling either.
As planning begins for the Arbutus Corridor there is an opportunity to build a cycling infrastructure that makes Granville Island much more accessible. The Corridor comes very close to Granville Island around West 2nd and Fir. It’s not hard to envision how cycling access from here can be improved. What I think is equally important but more difficult is to provide access from downtown so that downtown residents and cycling commuters see Granville Island as a convenient and accessible place to buy their groceries.
Arno suggests the old idea of stairs within the structure of the bridge, which would be of limited interest to cyclists, and would require an elevator for people with disabilities.
Fifteen years ago Peter Reese and I proposed a low level bridge under the Burrard Bridge, which now that the bike lanes are in place, is never going to happen. That idea was to have an operable bridge which cyclists could remain on even if it opened to let a boat through.
Since that time a bridge based on the same idea was built in Hull, UK where people can remain on the bridge even as it opens for boats. This means that a passing boat equipped with a transponder would be able to open the bridge without delay while having to wait for the bridge to be cleared of people.
Under the Granville Bridge and slightly to the east is a possible location for such a bridge except that there would have to be two, swinging open like a pair of double doors into a commercial kitchen.
If cycling infrastructure were built on downtown Granville street and through the new arts district around the new Vancouver House development down to the Seawall and such a bridge, Granville Island would become an integral part of a major cycling route and far less dependent on auto access for it’s economic well being. This would allow for much of the land devoted to parking to be turned over to other uses such as commercial and residential buildings.
Wait a while because rising sea levels means that soon or later a ships lock will be required somewhere across the mouth of False Creek and that will make crossing to Granville Island from downtown quite convenient.
The agreement signed with the city gives the CPR the option to develop the Arbutus corridor north of 6th. So not only will there never be a streetcar connecting Arbutus to Granville Island, there will never be a bike path either.
Plenty of streets Vancouver could close. Far too many E-W and -S roads are used for cars, be they driving or parked. 50% could be closed in time.
We need another N-S subway, under Granville or Burrard. May I live to see it, or even the one to UBC. Until then: car is king.
I’ve thought that putting laneway housing on some of them might be a great use of space … so there is a laneway both in the front and the back (putting people where our land is)
For those wanting to see the bridge in Hull go to
The web site is: http://www.dezeen.com/2013/08/05scale-lane-bridge-by-mcdowellbenedetti/