The District of North Vancouver (DNV) council has voted to amend its traffic bylaw to better manage parking and traffic in the popular Lynn Canyon Park area.
The amendment would prohibit large buses (larger than seating capacity of 24 passenger) from stopping or parking within the area bounded by Lynn Valley Road, Ross Road, and Lynn Canyon Park without a DNV permit. This area includes both sides of the Lynn Valley Road and Ross Road east of Mountain Highway.
The new bylaw also includes prohibition against passenger vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of more than 8850 kg within the area bounded by Lynn Valley Road, Ross Road, and Lynn Canyon Park (including Lynn Valley Road both sides east of Mountain Highway, and Ross Road both sides east of Mountain Highway).
These bigger vehicles can only enter this area with a DNV permit. The penalty for not following this violation is $500 per violation. The change in the bylaw is part of an ongoing strategy to create a better system for a place overrun with local and international tourists.
The increasing popularity of the canyon brought in its wake an increase in commercial tours buses, creating parking and traffic problems in the area. In 2017, for example, over 500 large tour buses visited Lynn Canyon Park. Last year, the district decided it could no longer accommodate those large tour buses due to pedestrian safety concerns and difficult manoeuvrability of large buses on local roads.
The district no longer accommodates tour buses and other large vehicles in these areas without permit, a change it introduced in May last year. From May 18, 2018, all large buses were prohibited from entering the west parking lot at Lynn Canyon Park (accessed from Peters Rd) under the Park Regulation Bylaw unless they had a district permit.
Instead, the large buses were directed to the east parking lot via Lillooet Rd for park access.
Along with these restrictions, DNV established a permitting system for eligible operators of large buses. Permits, however, are issued for single-day use only to those who qualify. Large commercial tour buses were denied permits.
Large buses would continue to be allowed to access Lynn Canyon Park from the east parking lot (via Lillooet Rd) without permit. They are, however, prohibited, from entering from the west parking lot.
The new amendments now gives DNV staff enforcement powers to stop large buses from stopping or parking within the area bounded by Lynn Valley Road, Ross Road, and Lynn Canyon Park without DNV permit.
The district has also increased the presence of park rangers and traffic control and bylaw enforcement personnel in Deep Cove and enforced similar rules to prohibit large commercial buses from entering Deep Cove without a permit.
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