Point Grey residents fuming over city's $6.4M sidewalk expansion

Residents along Point Grey Road don't understand why theCity of Vancouver has decided to spend $6.4 million toexpand the sidewalk infront of their homes by 1.2metres.

"If you wantto fix the sidewalk, fix the sidewalk. But to make the sidewalk wider when it is not needed on a street where there are no cars allowed that is insane," said Nelson Skalbania, who has lived on the street for 30 years.

The pedestrian sidewalk expansion will be taking place at one of the city's wealthiest postal codes. The sidewalk is currently 1.8 metres wide, when the city is finished building it out, itwill be threemetres.

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"I think there is a lot of better ways to spend the money. When you look down the street, it is beautiful," saidAllan Jones, who lives in downtown but visits friends in the area frequently.

A few years ago the busy road, which was frequentedby up to 10,000 cars a day,was closed to through traffic making it safer forcyclists.

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The city saysit wants to expand the sidewalk to provide a high qualitypedestrianwalkway to connectthe 22-kilometreseawallthat runs through the city'swaterfront from the Convention Centreto Stanley Park through toSpanish Banks, Jericho Beach and UBC.

The improvements are all on city-ownedland, but many homeowners have landscapedthe easement.

"The city is destroying all the beautiful landscaping and trees that are on this stretch of road ...That's all going to be gone and replaced by concrete," saidJohnCassils, a resident of the area since 1970.

While the upset residents understand the land is the city's, they say there is no need to expand the sidewalk because there aren't enough pedestrians frequenting the area.

"It's a waste of money.It's $6.4 million to widen the sidewalk that is obviously not needed today," he said, "Pedestrian [numbers]haven't changed at all. It'smostly local traffic becauseit is a long stretch of road."

LarryEstrin who haslived on Point Grey Road for 54 years agrees.

"I can't see it will ever have that density of use that you would expect to see a 10-foot-sidewalk downtown somewhere, you will never have huge crowds walking inboth directions," he said.

But the City of Vancouver is confident the pedestrian numbers will grow when the improvements are made.

"The cycling numbers jumped from 600 to over 3,000, and as we do the improvements for pedestrians we expect those numbers to grow dramatically," said Jerry Dobrovolny, general manager with the City of Vancouver's engineering services.

"I recognize it is a change for residents on the corridor ... but it is not okay to encroach on city property and just set up shop and build a fence on city property and now it is a situation where the whole city will benefit from the project that widens the sidewalk and takes some of that space back," said Dobrovolny.

Upset residents are holding a rally, Sunday, June 26th.Thecity plans to begin constructionthis summer.