Traffic congestion and curbside street parking challenges in Deep Cove have become so problematic for residents that the District of North Vancouver is now introducing new regulations that greatly limit visitor parking.
Last week, during a public meeting, District Council approved District staff’s strategy to regulate curbside street parking to provide residents with some relief from the disruptions, especially during the busy peak season for the area’s outdoor recreation activities.
Beginning this summer, there will be new regulations for most of the residential streets closest to the open parks on the waterfront, near the retail village, and the Quarry Rock trail entrance.
Depending on the precise street location, there will be a mix of time-limited parking, time-limited parking but with exemptions for residents (resident exempt; RE), or resident parking only (RPO).
Currently, the area has about 910 curbside street parking spaces, with 770 spaces carrying no restrictions, 60 spaces that are time-limited, and 80 spaces that are resident parking only.
The forthcoming changes will change these 910 spaces into a mix of 110 time-limited spaces, 280 time-limited RE spaces, and 350 resident-parking-only spaces. Only 170 spaces will see no restrictions, representing a decrease of 600 spaces.
Some areas will see these parking restrictions over the course of the entire year, while other areas will see the restrictions on a seasonal basis between March 1 and October 31. The restrictions would begin at 8 am and end at 8 pm daily.
Map of curbside street parking changes for Deep Cove. (District of North Vancouver)
With the approval, the District will begin installing new street signage and inform impacted residents of the option to buy an annual parking pass for $35.00. Each household with a resident parking pass will be given two parking passes and one parking pass for visitors. At this time, there is no precise date for the start of the new regulations, but they will be implemented as soon as possible ahead of the busy peak season.
“I think we need to give priority to the residents, followed closely by businesses. The challenge is the businesses are successful by both the residents and visitors,” said councillor Herman Mah during the meeting.
Mayor Mike Little added, “As far as I’m concerned, this is a step in the right direction, and it balances the different priorities we gave staff to report back on.”
Mah and Councillor Catherine Pope also suggested the need for enforcement to ensure the new regulations are being followed. Pope expressed specific support for the future exploration of the implementation of pay parking, similar to other jurisdictions that have enacted pay parking at popular waterfront and park destinations, and a consideration of a free shuttle bus service.
However, according to District staff, over the past years, the logistics and feasibility of a shuttle bus service have been explored and tested, but the “uptake was poor and generally considered unsuccessful.” Currently, Deep Cove is directly served by two TransLink bus routes: the No. 211 from Burrard Station via Phibbs Exchange and the No. 212 from Phibbs Exchange.
District staff said they took a “wholistic approach” in creating the new regulations and “striking a balance of parking needs for residents, businesses, and visitors.” The new regulations follow two years of planning work, which provide an update to the area’s previous 2015-enacted transportation plan. After the summer season, District staff will report back to District Council on their findings and potential recommendations for any tweaking of the regulations.
Crowds at the top of the Quarry Rock trail at Deep Cove. (marklee0227/Instagram)
Councillor Lisa Muri, who previously ran a longtime hardware business and grew up in the area, expressed great disappointment and frustration that the restrictions do not cover more streets beyond the core and waterfront park areas of Deep Cove and suggested the changes will not make enough of a meaningful impact for local residents.
“We are constantly saying, ‘Please find alternatives to driving your car, please take the bus, please walk, please ride a bike, except when you come to Deep Cove. Don’t worry, we’ll have some parking spots for you because we do not want to return livability to an area that has been under siege for years,’” said Muri.
“When you go down into the Cove on a weekend and see people parking in people’s driveways where they are parking illegally everywhere, where they are driving around the block dozens of times to try to find the coveted parking spot that is a couple blocks away from the park, that is not sustainable living. That is not responsible living for the residents and the businesses in the community because it is impacting them as well.”
She asserts thousands of cars come into the area each day during the peak season, and that the current issues are due social media posts on Instagram and an Air France commercial on Quarry Rock.
Muri suggests more needs to be done to managing traffic congestion, including the potential of implementation a parking reservation system, just like Buntzen Lake. According to Muri, a traffic flagger was hit by a vehicle earlier this spring during the Easter long weekend.
Muri says the issues go as far as visitors arguing with residents over why they cannot park in their private driveway.
Last summer, the District reopened Lower Gallant Avenue — a segment of the street that runs through Deep Cove’s retail village — following a pedestrian-oriented reconstruction that permanently expanded spaces for pedestrians, reduced curbside street parking, and the conversion of the street into a one-way direction for vehicles.