Posted Apr 15, 2022, 4:42 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 15,455
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Missed this gem. They even make slippery wood flooring at Westbank. It did seem open the last time I walked by.
Quote:
Is it public or not? Group calls attention to lack of signage around Vancouver's private-public space
A Vancouver urban design group says signs are needed to indicate when courtyards and stairways at Vancouver House are open to the public.
Author of the article:Kevin Griffin
Anyone who’s walked by Vancouver House — the expanding 59-storey condo tower by the Granville Bridge — could be forgiven for looking a bit confused.
Walkways and staircases that are supposed to lead to public courtyards have remained shut off since the completion of the residential and workspace complex in 2020. There’s no signage indicating when they’ll be open.
A group dedicated to supporting public space says it highlights a recurring problem in the city — lack of signage around so-called privately owned public spaces or “POPS.”
“The bottom line is that we’d like to see clear signage to indicate where these public rights-of-way are and naming them for what they are, which is public space,” said Paola Qualizza, chair of the Vancouver Public Space Network.
Providing public access to two courtyards via walkways from the Granville Bridge was a condition of the development permit imposed on developer Westbank when the site was rezoned in 2014.
“Staff are recommending further design development to ensure that the publicly accessible vertical connections will accommodate direct access between the upper bridge deck and the underside of the Granville Street Bridge,” the development permit said.
On a recent late afternoon visit by Postmedia News, a pedestrian heading north tried to use the east walkway from the bridge deck. But when he pushed against the wooden gate to one of the courtyards, it was closed. He turned back onto the bridge and continued along Granville on the sidewalk. Access to the two courtyards on both sides via staircases from Pacific Street is also closed.
The courtyards are — for now — only available to occupants of low-rise buildings at 1461 and 1462 Granville St., which are occupied by University Canada West.
Westbank said the courtyards likely won’t be open to the public until late this year or early in 2022. The developer says it’s installing weatherproofing because of “slipping concerns” in the two courtyards.
“The doors will be opened shortly after completion of maintenance and we may be able to open the doors sooner intermittently as work progresses, depending on conditions,” a Westbank representative said in an email.
Westbank said it plans to open the four access points from 7 a.m. to dusk from June to September and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. from October to May.
“There is no signage indicating when access points are open or not, but we will look into additional ways to finding opportunities (for some signage) with the City of Vancouver,” Westbank said.
Qualizza said there are many other examples of passageways and plazas that the public has access to in Downtown Vancouver but aren’t marked with signs indicating that they’re public or when they’re open to people.
Qualizza cited the public right-of-way from Pender to Abbott streets through the International Village, sometimes referred to as Tinseltown. In 2005, Gladys Radek was awarded $15,000 when the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal found security guards at the shopping centre discriminated against her on the grounds of being Indigenous and disabled while she was using the right-of-way.
When repair or maintenance work results in these spaces being closed temporarily, work should be done in a timely fashion with transparency about reasonable time lines to reopen, Qualizza said.
Signs at privately owned public spaces, Qualizza said, not only invite people in, they also reassure people that they won’t get “shooed out if they’re not a resident.”
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https://vancouversun.com/news/is-it-publ...e-around-vancouvers-private-public-space
And whatever they wood they used seems like it was installed 15 years ago and a few pavers on the rental unit balconies seem like they've collapsed.
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