On average, more than 75 per cent of survey respondents like or really like proposed design concepts for Arbutus Greenway “character zones,” according to the City of Vancouver.

The city’s overall design concept was released in April. A summary of results from subsequent consultation was unveiled June 19.

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The design concept envisions eight character zones along the route that are inspired by features of the areas. Zones include Harvest Table, Electric Alley, the Ridge, Woodland Bend, Kerrydale Pass, Garden Path, Marpole Meander and The Lookout. The design concept also outlines plans for the pedestrian and bike paths, the future street car route, potential north and south connections and the excess land that could help fund construction of the greenway.

The design document is meant to be a high-level, over-arching vision for the corridor. When staff eventually get into the detailed design work for areas such as Electric Alley, it will be a matter of taking the high-level design concept and figuring out how it works on the ground.

For the latest round of consultation, staff collected feedback through an online survey, open houses, as well as meetings with advisory committees and interest groups.

Participants’ suggestions included a desire that the city ensure the design is safe, comfortable and easy to use, that additional amenities such as washrooms and seating are included, and that care is taken not to “over design.”

Participants also highlighted the importance of north and south connections to the seawall and down to the Fraser River, while three out of five surveyed (59 per cent) supported the proposed use of excess lands to help fund construction costs.

Paul Storer, the city’s branch manager of transportation design, told the Courier that staff met with more than 1,000 people in this round of consultation and that, generally speaking, they heard “really positive feedback.”

“I think people who were involved in the early stages [of the design process] saw that their comments were reflected,” he said. “…We heard good comments from people about all of the zones. When we go to council, we’re going to be trying to incorporate the feedback as well as possible. When we get into the real details of the design, we’ll be having more engagement with the public and getting more into how those ideas are represented.”

Some concerns were raised about safety issues with respect to transportation design — more than a quarter (28 per cent) cited safety aspects or emphasized ease of use. Concern about intersections was a recurring theme, according to the city, as was a desire for improved connections to surrounding neighbourhoods.

Storer acknowledged staff did hear people say some of the existing intersections on the temporary greenway aren’t working as well as they could.

“Our goal is to keep addressing [issues] on the temporary pathway outside of the context of the development of the long-term greenway,” he said.

While a portion of respondents were either neutral, dislike or really dislike the design concept, Storer said staff tried to “dig into” the comments to really understand what the issues were, which will help inform future detailed design work.

Staff have identified two parcels of excess land located outside of the greenway on the adjacent street right-of-way serving East Boulevard in Kerrisdale (zone 5).

One parcel is between 37th and 39th on East Boulevard, the other is between 39th and 40th.

Any potential rezoning of the excess land would be considered in a future planning process that includes public consultation.

Storer said the land between 37th and 39th is large enough to develop housing or something similar, while more detailed work would need to be done to see if anything is possible for the land between 39th and 40th.

"All of that is really dependent on a future planning process that will be happening in the Kerrisdale area. That will be looking at the bigger town centre and what needs to happen there and how these parcels might fit into that,” he said.

(The two parcels of excess land is in addition to the Option Lands between West First Avenue and West Fifth Avenue. The Option Lands aren’t needed for the greenway. If they are rezoned, CPR has the option to repurchase the lands from the city. If CPR doesn’t exercise that option, it will share in the proceeds of any sale.)

Storer said he’s not surprised by the mixed reaction to the possibility of using the Kerrisdale excess land to help fund the greenway’s construction.

“Right now, it’s a road right-of-way so it does have some uses. It’s a right-of-way outside the high school, so some of the circulation in the area would have to change,” he said. “That was one of the concerns that we heard. One of the other concerns that we heard was people didn’t understand what would happen with it. That’s a fair concern, which is why we need to do planning in the bigger area to determine what that would be used for.”

Exactly how much the development of the greenway will cost is uncertain — it’s nine kilometres long and it’s not often the city embarks on such a planning process.

Storer compared it to the seawall, a project that was developed over decades without a specific goal in terms of budget.

“What we’re doing on the Arbutus Greenway is similar to that. We’re trying to figure out what is it that the city wants this greenway to be and we’re developing the design vision around that,” he said. “Through the capital planning process, we’ll be looking for funding. Depending on how much funding we get will inform how much of the greenway we’re able to develop. The idea is that this would be delivered over many capital plans, probably decades, when it’s all said and done.”

In July, city staff expect to present two documents to city council — one that outlines the overall design vision for Arbutus Greenway and one that presents an implementation strategy, which includes what staff think are the best pieces to invest in first.

If approved, detailed design work on the prioritized sections would begin. It would include public consultation. Construction likely wouldn’t start for a year or two, however the city hopes to start working on the north and south connections in 2019.

@naoibh