Pushback from residents during White Rock council\u2019s question and answer period prompted members to pass motions asking for more detailed design information, going forward, on plans for transportation-related infrastructure and a revamped Five Corners intersection.<\/p>\n
Engineering manager Corrine Haer presented council with a corporate report on March 9 recommending a multi-use sidewalk as the preferred configuration for the stretch of Buena Vista Avenue between Fir Street and Best Street.<\/p>\n
The report also recommended staff be asked to move forward with detailed design for a Five Corners Improvement Project that would not only provide a raised intersection to calm traffic, but also a raised roadway on the south leg of Johnston Road as well as mountable, or \u2018roll-over\u2019 curbs to \u201cencourage inclusivity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both projects are eligible for funding from Translink to support transportation upgrades, and Haer said more detailed cost and design information for the Buena Vista project would be available later this year for an intended construction early in 2027, while the Five Corners plan details would slightly behind, with an intended construction date in fall of 2027.<\/p>\n
However, even before Haer was able to present her report, residents had already used question and answer period to raise issues with the plans.<\/p>\n
Arden English, himself a cyclist, urged council to reconsider establishing a multi-use sidewalk, saying a separated bike lane makes more sense from both a practical and safety standpoint.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am begging you that, if you are going to spend $3.2 million on an underground upgrade with an active transportation (plan), you have to, at the very least, give it the respect it deserves and build a protected two-way bike path,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people complain about e-bikes, e-scooters, or what have you, it\u2019s almost always from the perspective of pedestrian to cyclist conflict on a sidewalk, and for all intents and purposes, a multi-use pathway is just a bigger sidewalk with a special designation,\u201d English added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had seniors speak here in fear of e-bikes on sidewalks before, and a multi-use pathway does nothing to solve this problem. What we would be doing here is taking a bike-rider and, instead of pitting them against cars, we\u2019d be pitting them against pedestrians. This is not a practical solution for what connects to the second-busiest walking corridor in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the Five Corners issue, Catherine Honeywell, co-owner of Five Corners Cafe and the adjacent Shop Next Door arts and crafts boutique, questioned the advisability of a raised intersection, and extending that level down Johnston Road while creating mountable or \u2018roll-over\u2019 curbs in front of hers and other businesses in the block.<\/p>\n
While noting that residents and merchants already got involved in an earlier Five Corners plan two years ago \u2013 ultimately persuading council not to block off the south leg of Johnston Road (which would have effectively isolated businesses there) she said she had concerns that the city was revisiting the neighbourhood again.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy understanding is this all started with the fact that people ran the stop-sign,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u201cTo me the solution is a speed bump. I\u2019ve been told by engineering that speed bumps are noisy\u2026What I\u2019m hearing is you want to raise the height of the road, and have a \u2018rolled\u2019 curb, which is very dangerous as far as I\u2019m concerned, if I have people on our patio. We live in a town of seniors \u2013 people jump sidewalks all the time, that sounds terrifying to me,\u201d Honeywell added.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy question is, is your agenda the same end result as you were after two years ago; closing the road off as opposed to calming the traffic?\u201d<\/p>\n
The question received an instant \u201cno, not at all,\u201d from Mayor Megan Knight.<\/p>\n
But Honeywell said that, even if Translink money is available for such infrastructure projects, it would be better spent elsewhere in the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf common sense were to prevail, people would look around this town and find an area that needs some tending to, as opposed to trying to make a make-work program.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Haer presented her report later the same evening, Knight said she tended to support English\u2019s comments preferrring a two-way bike-path for Buena Vista and questioned what the purpose of the mountable curbing at Five Corners would be.<\/p>\n
Haer\u2019s answer was that it would improve \u201cinclusivity\u201d and remove barriers to mobility during special events when Five Corners could be temporarily closed off with planters.<\/p>\n
In response to a question from Coun. Anthony Manning (who also supported the two-way bike path approach for Buena Vista) Haer said the raised intersection at Five Corners, including crosswalks, would serve as \u201ca large speedbump.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coun. Christopher Trevelyan said he understood the raised intersection to slow traffic \u201cwhich is important, because I\u2019ve heard that complaint many times, that it\u2019s a dangerous section of road.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he said he did not see the same need for the lower leg of Johnston Road, all the way down to Beachview Ave.<\/p>\n
And while he said he appreciated the inclusivity idea, he would be \u201cvery wary of having such a low curb in front of businesses \u2013 it makes me a little bit nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to see (cost) numbers on just the intersection and then numbers on the entire project,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Trevelyan also said that he was reluctant to approve a bike path for just a single two-block area.<\/p>\n
Coun. David Chesney said he would like to see the project factored into a longer-range plan for bike paths throughout the city, as Trevelyan suggested, particularly since it hinged on Translink funding of @$1.3 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cA big part of this project is the underground utilities,\u201d municipal operations director Jim Gordon said.<\/p>\n
Council ultimately directed that staff provide detailed design for both projects, with preference for the bike path and a raised curb in front of lower Johnston Road businesses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pushback from residents during White Rock council\u2019s question and answer period prompted members to pass motions asking for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":{"0":"post-540851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-surrey","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-surrey"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}