Park Board and City of Vancouver seek public input for West End Waterfront design

One of the busiest waterfront areas of Vancouver, the West End Waterfront will be getting a makeover in the coming years and the public is being invited to give the city and Vancouver Park Board some feedback about what should be included in the design.

The shoreline includes Sunset Beach, Beach Avenue and English Bay.

Senior planner with the Vancouver Park Board Emily Dunlop says there are no specific designs yet, and they are looking for ideas to make better use of the area.

"For example, English Bay is arguably one of the most widely used public open spaces that we have across the entire city. And so we know that it's already kind of reaching its sort of carrying capacity, if you will," said Dunlop.

She said the design would include ways for the new West End Waterfront to provide more open space and host more people.

She said climate change and projected sea level rise will be taken into account, as well as the cultural significance of the area to Indigenous communities.

"We're expecting to see one to two metres of sea level rise in the next 50 to 100 years, according to the latest numbers from the B.C. government."

Dunlop said the city and Park Board are at the very early stages of the project and are in a "listening phase."

She acknowledged people have strong feelings about the vibrant neighbourhood that has been seeing more high rise developments in recent years.

"We want to hear from everyone on what they value about the space today, what should change about the space and what shouldn't change, what do we love about the space that we just want to see carry forward in the next 30 years."

The city is gathering public opinions through virtual community meetings, an online survey and in-person pop-up events.

Staff will present a concept plan as early as the spring of 2023, according to a timeline posted on the city's website.