Vancouver Broadway Plan opposers set to rally outside city hall Saturday

Members of more than 20 neighbourhood associations and community groups opposed to the Broadway Plan are set to rally outside Vancouver City Hall Saturday.

Businesses in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood say they’re having trouble getting goods in the door – as construction of the Broadway Subway Project creates delivery challenges – and revenue losses.

The Broadway Subway Project is a 5.7 km extension of the Millennium Line, from VCC-Clark Station to Broadway and Arbutus. The project is on schedule for the new line to open in 2025, according to the website. (broadwaysubway.ca)

Dubbed “A Vancouver for Every Voice: A Call to Action,” organizers want to draw attention to the proposal they claim would increase density along the 500-block of Broadway by more than 80 per cent.

Catherine Ellsmere’s mental health bookstore on West Broadway is beside an open excavation for the Broadway Subway Project. She says, while the store is lucky to have an online option for customers, she says some of its clientele are missing out on the experience of walking through the store.

“For people who want to come in and have that tactile experience, touching books, or dealing with a lot of the sensory material that we carry,” she said.

“We pay to have a storefront, and really we’re becoming a warehouse,” she added.

Ellsmere’s store only has one way in for vehicles on the block, and like other Vancouver businesses along the project’s path, her business has been losing money.

“What we would have expected in terms of revenue is down because we’re not getting that foot traffic. But we are … do[ing] what we need to do to make it work.”

Related Articles: 

• Vancouver mayor promises to protect renters as concern grows over Broadway Subway Project

• Broadway SkyTrain developments raise questions for renters

Ellsmere adds customers have also found it difficult to gauge if the storefront is open or if they have access to parking, “Because the signage has not been great.”

“We’re directing traffic daily. People don’t know where to park and the … one-hour parking that’s supposed to … turn over regularly, is often filled by people that are part of the construction project,” she said.

The City of Vancouver says they’re providing more short-term parking and loading zones on NEARBY side streets, but Neil Wyles with the Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Association says contractors sometimes abuse new spaces.

“Although the City of Vancouver has created some quick stop and go spaces and some loading spaces, we’re seeing a lack of enforcement on these spaces, and you’ll see that some of these vehicles are just there all day every day, and there’s no movement,” he said.

He says the other major problem is for deliveries delivery access.

“We’re just off the corner of Quebec and Broadway. The issue is there’s no stopping and no parking in the alley. Furniture stores can’t get any goods in the back door, nor can they get them in the front door. Anytime a delivery driver tries to stop through here, he’s quickly shooed away, being told that there’s no parking. You come out the back door even with your small purchases, and there’s a dump truck, right there, blocking the way.”

Ellsmere adds, “All of our delivery guys every day, because they can’t use the loading zones. So they’re illegally parking in the alley – and it’s not an easy access.”

People with strollers or those that need disability access have also expressed frustration, according to Ellsmere.

Open Gallery 7 items

One grocery store owner along the project’s route in the area has created an online petition with over a thousand signatures, asking for tax breaks for businesses affected along with the Broadway Subway Project.

In a statement, Steve Brown with the City of Vancouver says that’s not going to happen. No direct financial support has been promised to businesses along Broadway.

Lisa Gow, executive project director for the Broadway Subway project, says, “I recognize that construction on the Broadway subway project can present challenges for businesses that have already had a pretty difficult time during the pandemic.”

She says because the province does not provide financial assistance for temporary disruptions because of construction, “we’re working as hard as we are with the businesses to look at what other mitigations that we could provide to them. And it’s a challenge, but it’s also something that changes on an ongoing basis.”

Gow says one of the main ways to help businesses has been “to tunnel underground and then put in place temporary bridges that we call traffic decks, that keep access open for businesses.”

Wyles says their approach of putting up traffic decks while they drill is marginally better than what happened during the Canada Line construction.

Regardless of the construction method, he says the impacts on the existing businesses are significant and will be long-lasting.

“I think another three years of this is going to be extremely difficult,” he said.

The rally starts at 11:00 a.m. at the north entrance of City Hall and comes ahead of council voting on the plan on May 18.