Vancouver vision part of revamp for False Creek
Andy Ivens
Province
The City of Vancouver is putting up more than $20 million to add a station to the RAV line on the south side of False Creek.
The station will lie under the corner of Cambie Street and Sixth Avenue on land the city already owns.
The redeveloped Southeast False Creek — site of the athletes’ village for the 2010 Olympics — will be transformed from an industrial eyesore into “a neighbourhood that will become Vancouver’s most sustainable community,” according to city planners.
The province has already given the city a $7.8-million grant earmarked for “sustainable land-use objectives for the area.” Deducting that amount from the $29-million cost of building the station will leave the city with a bill for $21.2 million.
But the city plans to recoup some or all of that money from a developer, says Wayne Pledger, manager of the city’s rapid transit office.
City planners envision a mainly residential development rising above the underground, with a retail and commercial component at ground level, said Pledger.
He said TransLink is also involved in the plan that will connect Granville Island to the Second Avenue Station. The streetcar route will include stops at the Main Street/Science World SkyTrain station and downtown, says Pledger.
The construction site of the Second Avenue station will also mark the dividing line between the section of the Richmond-Airport-Vancouver line that will be built with the less-expensive cut-and-cover method along Cambie and the more-expensive bored-tunnel method that will go under False Creek to the downtown core, said Pledger.
“A Second Avenue station will promote more sustainable ways of travelling around,” Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell said in a release.
The Second Avenue station was not included in the $1.7-billion RAV budget. It was designated optional and it was left up to the city to decide whether it wanted a station and how to come up with the money for it.
© The Vancouver Province 2005
