A section of Granville Street will be closed to traffic every weekend this summer if council approves an engineering report going to committee on Thursday.
The proposed closures between Smithe and Dunsmuir are part of a plan aimed at building on the vibrant street scene that emerged during the Vancouver Olympics.
Several other streets — to be chosen later — could also be closed at certain times this summer.
The proposal follows a pilot project called Summer Spaces in 2009, when some streets were declared car-free on some Sundays in July and August.
The pedestrian-only areas were located in four neighbourhoods: Commercial Drive, Main Street, Gastown and Collingwood.
“Residents loved Summer Spaces, and I think now that we’ve had the Olympics it really increased the amount of people who want that kind of space, and people really learned how to enjoy the public spaces,” Vancouver Coun. Andrea Reimer said.
“Interestingly, the police loved it last year. It allowed them to better control crowds on Friday and Saturday nights,” Reimer said. “The more room they had for people to move around, the less altercations there were.”
Granville Street was still partly under construction last year, and buses did not return to the route until September. Negotiations with TransLink will likely result in rerouting of buses down Howe Street, Reimer said.
Reimer pushed for the initial pilot project because she noticed a shortage of public space in her own neighbourhood.
The cost of the program would be $650,000, mainly for staff and cleaning costs. The Olympic Legacy Reserve would fund $350,000 and $300,000 would come from the 2011 engineering operating budget.
The program will also spend $175,000 in partnership contributions from the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association.
The city’s standing committee on services and budgets will consider the proposal on Thursday.
If it passes, city staff will decide which other locations will be included. The one-year program could become permanent if it proves successful.
