The Vancouver Park Board voted Monday night on whether to modify, reduce or mostly remove the controversial separated bike lane from Stanley Park.
They chose a version of Option C (see below) that involves returning the area to a pre-COVID traffic configuration with added safety measures.
The temporary bike lane will be dismantled with a recommendation to build a permanent bike lane by 2024.
A section of the lane from Prospect Point to Third Beach has already been removed.
The separated lane was implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic and modified to its current form in 2021. It allocates one of two lanes on Stanley Park Drive to bicycles and the other to vehicles through the use of cones and concrete barriers.
Supporters say it allows cyclists of all ages and abilities to access all parts of the park safely while maintaining a majority of parking and a full lane for cars, while opponents argue it has reduced access for seniors and people with disabilities, created congestion and hurt local businesses.
Lawyer Wally Oppal, K.C., who represents the owner of the Stanley Park Bar and Grill at Prospect Point, said his client would prefer to see the park restored to how it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We want everybody to share the park,” Oppal said.
“The way it is now, with the actions of the last park board, it’s chaos and the business has lost an immense amount of money, and people didn’t get their share of the park.”
On Sunday, supporters of the lane rallied to back the idea of keeping a lane around the entire park.
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“I think it would be so disappointing and just such a missed opportunity if Vancouver didn’t take advantage of this huge amenity we have in the park here to expand cycling and make a protected lane for cyclists around the whole park,” said Peter Ladner, a former Vancouver city councillor and member of the BC Cycling Coalition.
“For wheelchair accessibility for people with disabilities we need all options, we need the ability to get here by car and have great parking — which we have,” added paracyclist Jaimie Borissoff.
“And we also need the ability to get here safely on hand cycles and other forms of mobility.”
Proposed configurations
A staff report to the board presents three options to park commissioners, all of which would restore access from the park’s west side to the West End, would remove traffic cones and would make improvements to tour bus parking.
All three options would also maintain the Brockton Point and Lumberman’s Arch bypasses and retain angled parking at Second Beach.
Option A presents something of a compromise, keeping most of the separated lane on the park’s west side, approximately from Lumberman’s Arch to Third Beach, retained with the use of concrete barriers.
Under Option A, the lane would be removed through the park’s east side from Georgia Street to Lumberman’s Arch.
The report notes this option keeps a protected lane in the potentially dangerous steep climb and descent from prospect point and is not used by the park’s Horse and Carriage. It also notes the seawall on the park’s west side is narrower and more frequently closed due to storms and king tide.
The report estimates this option would cost approximately $550,000.
Option B would involve keeping a separated bike lane throughout the park, reinstating the section that was recently removed.
This potion would retaining some concrete barriers, mostly on the park’s east side, and replace cones with a “mountable” curb throughout the rest of the park.
The mountable curb would be more attractive, lower maintenance, and emergency vehicles would be able to cross it wherever needed, the report states.
This option would also cost approximately $550,000.
Option C would involve returning to a pre-COVID traffic configuration “with added safety measures.”
Under this proposal stretches of separated lane would be retained at Brockton Point, between Lumberman’s Arch and Old Pipeline Road, at the Prospect Point Café parking lot, at the Second Beach street parking area and along Ceperley Meadows.
All other remaining areas of the lane would be removed, at an estimated cost of $330,000.
Park commissioners are set to choose one of the three options during Monday evening’s meeting.
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