Ignored repeatedly and then hoodwinked all of a sudden. That’s how the residents of East 29th Street feel about a project that will wipe away almost all on-street parking from their street.
They have made phone calls and written letters to municipal staff and councillors, appeared before council and launched petitions but all seems to have fallen on deaf ears.
“Not only were we not aware this was happening until a brief letter arrived in our mailboxes less than two weeks before the project was set to start, our letters/emails haven’t been responded to; our phone calls have not been returned; and our requests to have some kind of conversation regarding this have been completely declined,” says Brenda Irving, an East 29th street resident.
Irving says residents want the council to start a dialogue with them and come up with a possible compromise on a problem that has many people angry and worried about the consequences of what the district and the city want — an almost complete obliteration of on-street parking.
Both the City and the District are working on safety improvements for people who walk, bike, drive, or take the transit along East 29th street between Lonsdale and Lynn Valley Road. Those improvements include new bike lanes, sidewalks, crosswalks, and new traffic lights at an intersection.
But these improvements mean hardship for residents of East 29th as the project, barring a few sections, removes nearly all on-street parking. This, the residents fear, will set in motion a ripple effect that will create tension in their family-oriented neighbourhood. While the residents may find some parking on side streets, lack of adequate parking will strain those who come to the neighbourhood to work, make deliveries, or to simply visit their families. The removal of on-street parking will hurt especially those with mobility challenges. Also, many of the visitors are seniors who will have to scramble to find parking on the side streets and then walk the steep East 29th street to visit family.
It will be a frustrating change for residents like Lindy Libke, who is concerned her 87-year-old mom and her friends will find it challenging to park in the side lanes. “The winter is going to be especially tough with these changes,” Libke says.
Lauren Emond has a home-based business, and she knows finding parking is going to get tough for her employees and UPS delivery guys, not to mention her tenants and their visitors who will all have to find a way around this challenge.
Another resident, Peter Mickelson, wonders if the planner gave any thought to what the garbage truck drivers are going to do with little leeway on parking. “They are just going to back up the traffic on this street,” he says.
Mickelson says the district doesn’t appreciate the value that parking lanes provide as a safety buffer for those backing out of their driveways onto 29th street. “With the north side parking lanes gone and the driving lane shifted north into the parking lane we will be required to back out directly into oncoming traffic which may still remain at high speed. This is a very critical issue and of the utmost concern,” he says.
The change will force resident Mike Pajak to park his work van far from his home. That would mean coming back home and spending considerable time looking for a parking spot, possibly several blocks from home. If it is broken into, will he even hear the alarms, he wonders.
Mary McWilliams, another local resident and a mother of two, says she would avoid the new bike lanes with her kids because they are not “AAA”, or for all ages and abilities as in Vancouver. “The bike lanes are only meant for professional cyclists. I won’t be taking my kids on these.”
Another resident, Peter Coles, commutes to West Vancouver on a bike and says with the steep slope, East 29th Street isn’t a good one to create bike lanes. “This is a steep street and a busy one with lots of traffic. It isn’t used much by cyclists,” he says.Brenda Irving says if the district had indeed done a thorough consultation with the community, they would have been more aware of the challenges the residents will now have to contend with. The district, she says, has gone about an underhanded way to remove all parking with minimal consultation.Irving says there was one survey last year, which a lot of residents responded too, but the maps in the survey in fact did show on-street parking on one side of the street. But in the latest iteration of the project, that option was simply gone, and the motion to have bike lanes on both sides was passed in the council meeting in May with little input from the community. She also says district is acting upon incomplete data on cyclists and parking in their haste to take away parking for bike lanes.
Roseanna Lynch says the residents aren’t against safety improvements but simply want their voices to be heard and are willing to work out a compromise. She says the bicycle lane on a portion of 29th, for example, can be a “shared road” as many other streets in different municipalities have been deemed and function quite adequately without the disruption of the residents.
Brenda Irving says there can be compromises and residents are willing to work with the district — if only they listen.
“Can we just start a conversation?”
Why would the District put in bicycle lanes for (probably) non residents to the detriment of residents. This should not be considered a major arterial route. But even if it is, so is Lonsdale and there is parking all up and down. We, the residents will be paying the taxes for these “improvements “ which take away our ability to park. We do not have a back lane!!
I am one of the East 29th Street residents that wrote letters and heard nothing back. This has been a huge topic on the several North Vancouver topic facebook pages. The outcry is falling on deaf ears.
There are daycares on that street. Are parents supposed to park wherever now and take their children across a busy road? This severs rights, reduces property values while benefitting whoever has the contract to put in the bike lanes. Council is elected to serve its people not itself. Remember this next election day!
This plan will cause undue and hardship for the residents of E 29th St. Paid taxes since 1985 to be told we can’t park on the the pavement we paid for?
Incredibly disheartening that the District Council is not even willing to compromise with the community after lack of initial consultation to begin with.
The residents of E 29th had three years to provide input but instead spent their time in front of the Netflix.
Suck it up buttercups and create your own off street parking.
If someone is 87-years-old with mobility problems then move or do not visit the area. Or better take up the cross word puzzle instead of blocking an important transit way with your car and walker.
Sunny days are here.
The ignorance of your comment is staggering
When asked to provide feedback; residents provided feedback. But the DNV/CNV put out a survey to make it seem like they are interested in what residents think, and then go ahead with the plan they had in mind all along. And residents in the CNV were left out of most communication since the project is mainly led by the DNV. Many residential discussions have shown that CNV residents in the area knew far less than the DNV residents.
As for off-street parking, many residents have had conversations with the DNV/CNV and due to lot sizes under 2,500sq ft and boulevard in front of properties; they have been told to park on the street. If the DNV/CNV insist on removing parking; at least allow the homes without any off-street parking to create a spot for one vehicle. Some give and take is needed.
Why is it necessary to add left turn lanes, which are removing parking, other than to allow traffic to continue to move quickly along this corridor and push traffic into quiet neighbourhoods that do NOT have sidewalks. Why should traffic be able to move along this street at 80km/hr? And who in their right mind would want to bike along this street when cars are travelling at this speed? An article released a few years ago, addressing speed on this street, made it seem like the DNV/CNV had plans to slow traffic, but instead they have created a plan that actually allows traffic to continue to move at such speeds. It’s not safe for families to use the proposed bike lane, families will continue to bypass 29th altogether. So the DNV/CNV is adding left turn lanes to speed up traffic, removing parking, and adding a bike lane for experienced riders only. So this plan for the “important transit way” for a handful of people who are experienced enough to bike this route vs the hundreds and hundreds of residents (while REMOVING bus stops by the way) is hardly an inclusive plan!
Also.. Telling elderly people to “move” or never leave their home is NOT the answer! God forbid that elderly folk would like to leave their homes and get out-and-about. What a thing to say!! How about allowing these people to have special on-street parking, or on-street parking for the residents of homes that do not have laneways or off-street parking. How about implementing permit parking only for the residents that can prove hardship from this project. There is a way to keep the handful of bikers and hundreds of residents happy if the DNV/CNV would allow us to start a dialogue. But they refuse to hear what anyone has to say.
Hazen Colbert,
My fellow residents and I are choosing to be civil regarding this. We would appreciate the same respect.
We have provided our input but the new plan to completely remove on-street parking was not even discussed during those years of public consultation. There were no maps presented via the survey or the last meeting at Boundary Elementary in the fall of 2018 that demonstrated the complete removal of on-street parking.
We are not opposed to cyclists, transit or pedestrians. We actually live, work and play here after all.
We simply feel completely unrepresented. The residents of 29th Street East and those on the side streets are the largest ‘users’ of this corridor. Eliminating approximately 200 on-street parking spots with zero compromise or solutions only pushes the problem onto the residents on those side streets. Side streets that are already full of parked vehicles.
Density is happening. Though transit needs will increase and other modes of transportation will increase, so will vehicle ownership, use and the need for on-street parking.
If the District and City Council are truly considering the needs of all users then they have not looked at the whole picture then perhaps a couple of EV stations along 29th Street East would be welcome.
Considerations regarding how to maintain the back lanes that do exist (not all residents benefit from such as back lanes along 29th Street East are not throughout) have also not been discussed. A snow plow isn’t going to enter the back lane behind my home, the lane isn’t wide enough, there is no where for turning and certainly no place to put the plowed snow.
Just one of the many issues Council didn’t research, collect data on, consider added costs and resources for related to the removal of on-street parking along 29th Street East.
Curbside EV charging stations would be awesome, and much needed in North Vancouver, there are not enough charging stations to accommodate the number of EV’s over here.
I’m still not sure how many people would benefit from a bike lane up and over the hill on 29th but if that is what people would prefer over the 27th Street option, then I’d love to do away with these left turn lanes to make space for a protected bike lane curbside (next to the sidewalk) with parking on the outside closest the the moving traffic; like they have in other parts of North Vancouver and Vancouver. This also makes plenty of space for curbside charging for Electric Vehicles.
I agree that residents are upset because we are unaware of a lot of the changes. And while parking is a huge issue, it’s definitely not the only thing that residents are unhappy about with this plan, there are many unsafe aspects that you may not even consider unless you live in the area.
We want a chance to be heard!
In our block these are single family homes WITHOUT off-street parking. Due to the lot sizes being around 2,500sq ft and the boulevard space in front of each property; the CNV refuse to allow residents add an off-street parking space as it does not conform to current bylaw (these homes are over 80 years old!)
Parking is a huge issue with the current plan, but this doesn’t even begin to cover other safety aspects. The plan includes left-turn lanes to push traffic into a small, quiet residential area. Neither St Georges or St Andrews have sidewalks, so with cars parked on either side due to the removal of parking on 29th; where exactly are these pedestrians supposed to walk? What traffic calming measures will be added to this area to ensure that pedestrians/strollers/bikes/wheelchairs in the road aren’t in danger?
The issues created from the current plan will have a knock-on effect for all blocks surrounding 29th.
There needs to be more thought put into this project.
This is a ridiculous and money wasting project. Rarely do you see cyclists riding on 29th with the steep hills on it.
Many of us also rely on parking our and visitors vehicles on this road!
I am so totally against this make work project!
I didn’t know about this until I see this post! I know they are renovating to make it better yet didn’t they were taking parking away, it’s ridiculous!!! We live on a quiet street just off 29th, are we supposed to expect all these cars to park on our street?
They are just moving the problem away like they do on 3rd-4th-5th-6th streets in the district.
We do not want non resident to come and park where we live!! I believe we should have been part of the discussion… there is still time!
Also, I’ve never seen a bike going up the hill on 29th just saying!!!
Is it just a coincidence that North Vancouver and West Vancouver recently declared a “Climate Emergency”?
Imagine paying taxes all your life, saving to buy a house, paying for the roads, etc., then having your parking ripped off in such an arrogant manner.
This is all part of the globalist push to get us all on bikes and buses, to regulate every detail of our lives, to subject us to higher taxes, with no accountability. The arrogance of municipal politicians is astounding. Time to stand up and fight back, don’t wait until it is an issue that just affects you.