Agenda Index City of Vancouver

APPENDIX B

Resident Letter and Survey
Braemar Park Traffic Calming Plan

City of Vancouver Survey
Braemar Park Neighbourhood
Traffic Calming Plan

City of Vancouver April 2001

Dear Resident:

This survey seeks your opinion about a traffic calming plan for your neighbourhood. Traffic calming involves slowing the speed or reducing the volume of vehicular traffic on neighbourhood streets in order to increase safety and livability in the neighbourhood.

In 1999, the Children's & Women's Health Centre of British Columbia applied to the City of Vancouver to develop additional building density on their existing site. As a condition of the development, City Council has required Children's & Women's to participate in and fund a neighbourhood traffic calming plan. Subsequently, a letter was sent out from the City, to all the residents in your area requesting input for a neighbourhood traffic study. For the purposes of this plan, the neighbourhood was determined to be the area bounded by King Edward, West 33rd, Oak and Cambie.

After initial consultation, a residents' committee was formed that has worked with representatives from the City and Children's & Women's to design a neighbourhood traffic calming plan. A major goal of this plan is to reduce the volume and speeds of vehicles short-cutting through your neighbourhood to get to Children's & Women's. The committee is especially concerned with the routes of trucks and other commercial vehicles travelling to Children's & Women's.

Curb Bulges
A curb bulge is a horizontal extension of the curb into the roadway resulting in a narrower section of roadway. The curb is extended on both sides of the roadway to reduce its width for two-way traffic. The purpose of the bulge is to:
- reduce vehicle speeds;
- reduce crossing distance for pedestrians;
- increase pedestrian visibility;
- prevent parking close to an intersection; and
- improve the environment as, when landscaped, can improve the appearance of a street.
Proposed locations of the five curb bulges are:
- Laurel at W 32nd
- Heather at 29th, 30th, 31st, and 26th
Traffic Circles
A traffic circle is a circle with a concrete curb installed at the middle of an intersection. It forces motorists to slow down at the intersection in order to navigate around the circle. Other attributes of traffic circles include:
- increased green space;
- reduced intersection accidents and;
- the visual length of street is broken up;
Proposed locations of the seven traffic circles are:
- Laurel at W 26th and W 32nd
- Heather at 30th, 27th and 26th
- Ash and W 27th
- Willow at W 26th

Both Curb Bulges and Traffic Circles can be "sponsored" so that they are landscaped and cared for by residents of the neighbourhood. Please call Carli Williams at 871-6422 if you are interested in being a sponsor.

Centre Medians
A centre median is a landscaped median extending approximately 5 metres from an intersection. Both medians, in this plan, are proposed to be located on Heather Street just south and north of W King Edward and W 33rd Avenues, respectively. The purpose of centre medians is to:

Partial Diverter
One of the traffic concerns identified in your neighbourhood is the high volume of traffic accessing the 28th Avenue Children's & Women's entrance (Gate #2) by driving through your neighbourhood (rather than using Oak Street). A partial diverter installed on 28th, at Gate #2, will prohibit vehicles from using your neighbourhood streets for this purpose. Upon installation of the diverter, vehicles will be limited to accessing the gate using 28th DIRECTLY to and from Oak Street ONLY. The diverter will not affect 2-way through traffic travelling on 28th. Please see the figure below for a graphic description.

Children's & Women's "Ring Road" On-Site Improvements

The purpose of this traffic calming plan is to calm the traffic on neighbourhood streets. However, the committee working on this plan is also concerned with traffic problems on Children's & Women's internal "ring road". It was determined that an improved ring road would decrease circulating traffic as well as the number of commercial, service and fleet vehicles in the neighbourhood.

Through consultation with Children's & Women's, it was agreed that improvements would be made to the ring road in order to enable larger vehicles to use Gates #1 and #2 (see Figure 1). It was also agreed that Children's & Women's would limit commercial, service and fleet vehicle access to Gates #1 and #2. Vehicles larger than a "minivan" will not be permitted through Gates #3. They will also be closing Gate #4 to all traffic and adding more on-site parking. Improvements to the ring road and limitations on commercial, service and fleet vehicles are important components to this traffic calming plan which will influence the success of the proposed traffic calming measures. Children's & Women's have committed to completing these improvements prior to occupancy of their "Ambulatory Care" building.

Parking on City Streets Adjacent to Children's & Women's
Another of the issues identified by the resident's committee is the presence of public parking on Heather and 28th adjacent to Children's and Women's. The resident's committee feels that the public parking should be removed in order to stop vehicles from circulating as they search for parking. However, representatives from the City disagree with removing parking adjacent to Children' & Women's as it may cause additional traffic problems such as increased vehicle speeds on Heather and 28th. On street parking acts as a traffic calming measure, similar to curb bulges, by effectively reducing the width of the street. Children's and Women's supports the City's position and feels that their employees should be able to park on Heather and 28th.

The committee and the City representatives have agreed to refer the decision to City Council. If you have an opinion on this matter, either way, please check the box on the questionnaire part of this letter. We will use the results to inform City Council.

In addition to the measures in the neighbourhood, City staff will be upgrading the signage leading to Children's and Women's and St. Vincent's. The new signs will be placed on Oak, Cambie, King Edward and 33rd in order to guide visitors to the correct entrances.

The cost for these traffic calming measures will not affect your taxes. If the results of the enclosed survey indicates that the neighbourhood supports this Plan, the Plan will be presented to Vancouver City Council for approval. Your response to the survey is important.

Please return the survey by Monday, May 14, 2001 Please detach the bottom portion of this page and return it in the postage paid envelope. If you wish to expand on your comments, please fax them to 871-6119, e-mail carli_williams@city.vancouver.bc.ca or mail to Engineering Services, City Hall, 453 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V5Y 1V4. All personal information will remain confidential but your comments will be forwarded to City Council. If you have any questions, call Carli Williams at 871-6422 or e-mail carli_williams@city.vancouver.bc.ca

There will be an Open House at Beth Israel Synagogue, at 4350 Oak Street (enter through the back door), on May 7, 2001 from 7-9 pm. Please come to meet City staff and your neighbours who have developed this proposal for your neighbourhood. They will be pleased to answer any of your questions.

Braemar Park Neighbourhood Carli Williams, EIT
Traffic Committee Neighbourhood Transportation, City of Vancouver

Please detach the following and return it in the postage paid envelope.

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Name: ___________________Address: _______________________________Postal Code:__________

Yes No Neutral
I support the overall concept of the Traffic Calming Plan

I feel that public parking should be removed on Heather and Yes No Neutral
West 28th Streets adjacent to Children's and Women's

I would like to be notified when this issue goes before Council.

I offer the following comments about the traffic calming plan:
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ENCLOSED
Please read the enclosed information and return the postage paid reply card.
This survey seeks your opinion of a traffic calming plan for your neighbourhood

Comments or questions? You can send us email.
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