Prospect Point Options

[officedweller]

Options for Prospect Point at the Parks Board website here:

http://www.vancouver.ca/parks/parks/...feedback.shtml

http://www.vancouver.ca/parks/parks/...tPoint2007.pdf

Not much difference between the options.

Parks board to redesign Prospect Point
December storm provided unique opportunity
Sandra Thomas, Vancouver Courier
Published: Friday, November 23, 2007

When it comes to park redesign, Mother Nature stepped in where parks board staff feared to tread.

Parks board chair Ian Robertson said for years parks staff considered redesigning the awkward configuration of Prospect Point and Prospect Point Road in Stanley Park.

"Years ago staff identified the traffic layout at Prospect Point as not as safe as it could be," said Robertson. "But there was no desire to take out trees to change that."

But then in December 2006 a windstorm, with gusts of up to 160 kilometres per hour, ripped through the park and knocked down 10,000 trees. The most heavily damaged area included Prospect Point. During a tour of Stanley Park days after the storm, which hit overnight Dec. 15, Prospect Point looked as if it had taken a direct hit from a bomb. While hundreds of trees were completely uprooted, hundreds more leaned precariously or were snapped in two. A logging company was brought in to help with the cleanup.

Robertson said the board was unexpectedly given the opportunity to realign the road around the popular tourist attraction and is asking the public for its input on three designs, which are available to view on the parks board website.

"We could describe it as fortuitous," said Robertson. "There does seem to be a silver lining as a result of the storm."

Robertson said the layout of Prospect Point is a problem in a number of ways. The road bends sharply, and visitors parking their cars opposite the Prospect Point Cafe must walk across traffic to get to the lookout and food vendors. Tour buses park awkwardly at the side of the road and sometimes block traffic. The traffic configuration adds to the erosion of the bank sloping down to the seawall because its alignment forces rainwater runoff down the slope. Once the road is realigned, grading will force the water to run naturally back into the park.

The three design options include new pathways, expanded outdoor seating for the cafe, benches for visitors arriving by bus and at viewpoints, native plants, interpretative signs, a picnic area and a chainlink fence on the southwest edge towards Aviston Trail. New proposed additions include a marker to recognize restoration donors, a view deck, signal flags and bicycle parking with a charging station for electric bikes. The designs include parking for 60 cars, two large buses and two small buses.

Robertson said besides the trees ripped out by the storm, a few were removed because they were leaning and deemed hazardous to the public. But he rejected the belief among some park users that the parks board removed more trees than necessary, and he disagreed with media reports the board planned to pave most of Prospect Point to make way for a parking lot.

"But no additional trees were taken out. Some people accused us of clearcutting the area, but that's not the case," he said. "There will be no increase in asphalt."

He said a section of the area that's already paved will revert to green space.

"And now we'd really like to draw the public's attention to our website and gather feedback on which option they prefer," he said.

To check out the three design options, see www.vancouver.ca/parks, click on the "Stanley Park, Restoration" link to the left, and click on the feedback link.

© Vancouver Courier 2007