Barely two weeks after Maple Ridge Council's inaugural meeting, Mayor Read and her team had some discussions that gave us a pretty good indication that our new Council intends to get more serious about cycling.
On the agendas for the Public Hearing and Council meeting of
December 9 was a development proposal for an 18-storey tower on Brown Ave. in
the town core. This proposal is part of a plan for a number of highrises, all
along Brown Ave., north of Dewdney. This is a real game changer for our town.
There are already 3 other towers in the pipeline, two of which are also on
Brown Ave., and the third will be right around the corner from the other three
on Dewdney and Edge, all built on a large podium with a commercial component
and multiple floors of under- and above ground parking.
In another five years or so, it is expected that another
development of five more highrises will move forward, also along Brown, but on
the west side of 224th.
So we're going from a quiet single family home neighbourhood
to highrises. You can imagine the kind of traffic we're going to see on Brown
Ave.
Brown is one of two designated bike routes that help
cyclists get to and through the town core. So far the car traffic on Brown
hasn't been very busy, and sharing the road with cars hasn't been a problem.
It's clear that going from low to very high density will have
a significant impact on car traffic. Proper cycling facilities will have to be
included in the road design, so that cyclists can continue to safely navigate
the roads.
According to the present plan, space is provided for parking
on either side and one car lane in each direction. Cyclists will have to
"take the lane" (ride in the middle) to avoid getting
"doored" by someone opening a car door in their path. That means they'll
have no choice but to get in the way of cars. Drivers won't be too happy about
that.
Many cyclists will end up having to ride on the sidewalk. Neither
pedestrians nor cyclists are going to be happy about that.
Wayne Bissky, the developer of this property, a 25-year
resident of Maple Ridge, has a very strong desire to help Maple Ridge become
less reliant on cars, and to make it more feasible to get around on foot and by
bike. He says that if the standards for Brown Ave. included bike lanes, that's
what he would have planned to build. The
Multi-modal Transportation Plan for the towncore, the cycling component of
which has not been reviewed as part of the new 2014 Transportation Plan, does
not call for bike lanes.
Council took a strong position that a solution will have to
be found. It's so refreshing to see this Council take cyclists' concerns
seriously. It's in the interest of anybody who drives, bikes or walks in and
around town to make safe cycling part of the plan.
Another development proposal that concerns cyclists is on
123 Ave., at 207 Street. A 21 single family home development is proposed to be
built between two tributaries of McKenney Creek.
Cycling along this narrow stretch of 123 Ave. is rather
daunting, with cars speeding by and some giving cyclists very little space. According
to the City's road standards it is considered "substandard", and the
City can ask the developer to widen it as a condition of the development. At
the public hearing, significant concerns were raised by residents of the area
about the impact this development will have on the fish bearing creeks and the
forested land, due to significantly reduced setbacks, as well as a potentially
dangerous intersection being added to an already dangerous stretch of 123 Ave. Council
asked staff to come up with possible solutions.
I'll be watching with great interest what happens with these
two proposals. I think we just may be on a path to better cycling in the
future.
See also my recent posts about the Brown Ave. proposal and the 123 Ave. proposal.
