In Vancouver, there is this thing called the Arbutus Corridor. It's a long thin strip of land along a former freight line owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway, running from Granville Island in the north to Marine Drive in the south. And I live right next to it, along the 4 block east-west dogleg it makes across Burrard Street.
Given that I own a place overlooking this piece of land, I do take an interest in what will happen to it. The City has, since the 1980s, had the corridor zoned for transportation use, and the most recent development plan reiterates this, effectively restricting its use to ground-level rail, foot and bike paths. It was proposed as a route for the RAV (Richmond Airport Vancouver) line and many people along Cambie Street wish it had been chosen. CPR did want to sell the land to developers (it was thought to be worth in excess of $100M in 2000), and fought the City to change the zoning to allow this - ultimately losing in the Supreme Court of Canada.
Anyway, the local group Society Promoting Environmental Conservation - based just up the street - have long been at the forefront of trying to make sure the right thing happens with the Corridor. To advance that, they recently held a design competition to propose uses for it, and the winners have been announced. I was kind of disappointed to see that while the winning "professional architect" proposal included light rail, something I am quite in favour of, it also moved the railway onto sixth avenue to make room to build condos. It does seem like a step backwards from the City's plans, and that's my view they are talking about too (grr... comes over all NIMBY for a moment.) It would also wipe out the Cypress & Maple Community Gardens - which are becoming quite the local landmark, thanks to the efforts of my neighbours. So this morning I went out and took a few pictures, to show you what I mean.
I think eventually light rail will come, providing a means for yuppies such as myself to be ferried in safety and comfort from Kerrisdale to Granville Island - and it could potentially be very cool - but it will probably have to wait 'til after 2010.
Comments