A CLOSER LOOK
/BUTE-ROBSON PLAZA NOW OPEN
Mixed Reactions From The Public
by John Streit
(click images to enlarge)
What began as a three-month car-free “pilot plaza” at 800 Bute Street with funky yellow plant boxes, metal street furniture, patio umbrellas and an old white piano in the summer of 2017 has morphed into Vancouver’s newest permanent public gathering space – the Bute Robson Plaza.
The City says the one-year construction project is now mainly complete, at a cost of $10 million dollars with funding assistance from TransLink and the federal government.
NEW PLAZA SEATING AREA (EWAN STREIT PHOTO)
In a statement, Mayor Ken Sim says “Public spaces like the new Bute-Robson Plaza are where city life comes alive,” says Mayor Ken Sim. “They give people a place to pause, connect with friends and enjoy local businesses. This plaza reflects our commitment to creating vibrant streets and neighbourhoods that bring people together.”
FINISHED PLAZA (above) VS ARTIST RENDERING (EWAN STREIT PHOTO & COV RENDERING)
Samara Bordan with the Robson Street Business Association echoes those sentiments. “We are thrilled to welcome back the Bute-Robson Plaza, a fantastic public space which reflects a longtime shared vision to create a welcoming hub for residents and visitors.” She adds “It will not only enhance the pedestrian experience but also provide new opportunities for our local businesses to thrive.“
So, what are taxpayers getting for $10 million?
Here’s the breakdown from the City of Vancouver:
Terracing with built-in seating;
Overhead shade structures in the seating areas;
Fresh landscaping with new plants and trees;
Green rainwater features, including rain gardens;
A separated bike path to reduce conflict between pedestrians and people cycling or rolling along the Bute Greenway;
Two upgraded bus stops;
Improved traffic signals at Bute Street and Robson Street;
New street lighting for a brighter, safer experience year-round.
In a City of Vancouver press release, the Bute-Robson Plaza is described as “designed for connection and comfort, with plenty of flexible space for community events and gatherings with friends, family and visitors. We’ve also extended the plaza feel to Robson Street by widening sidewalks for easier strolling and raising the intersection to make walking and rolling safer.”
Reaction to the new plaza on social media has been decidedly mixed.
On the City of Vancouver’s official Facebook profile, you’ll find numerous positive comments including “It’s beautiful, thank you!” and “Love it, Bute is my commute to work. It’s so nice to be able to hop off my bike and grab a coffee before heading to the office.” Another person writes “Great addition to the neighbourhood. I walk through every day and it’s well used!”
Some negative Facebook comments include “It looks far too sterile and uninviting currently” and “concrete, concrete, concrete, sold as luxury,” along with “This is nice but useless for most of the year since it doesn't provide any kind of shelter.”
The City says construction crews will return next year “to add finishing touches to the plaza including a weather-proof roof for the overhead structures and more flexible furniture, making the space summer-event ready.”
James Oakes is a long-time West End resident and editor-at-large with The West End Journal (TWEJ) who lives a block south of the Bute-Robson Plaza. He’s been pushing the City over the years to properly maintain the Bute Mini-Park and the Vancouver’s water fountains, and helping landscape Haro Park. He’s been closely watching all the changes that have happened on 800 Bute since 2017.
PAINT PEELING ON ZEBRA STRIPE CROSSING (EWAN STREIT PHOTO)
“The plaza is cold and very corporate right now,” said Oakes. “I think the City didn’t want it to be too inviting. They want to keep the movement and flow of people, like they’re anticipating this Times Square mass, possibly. There’s limited seating.” Oakes adds that new paint on the zebra crosswalk at Robson and Bute is already fading due to the buses.
Mike Cook lives a block north of the Bute-Robson Plaza and has also been following its urban metamorphosis from a regular street to a gathering place.
“Not bad. The levels add some design features and look. I thought they would do a bit more on the north side. Overall - it provides open space but not a lot of seating. Good idea for the bus stops. Specific bike lanes will save cyclists from running over people in front of Breka. And of course they will need many more refuse receptacles. Previously - every morning it was a mess from Breka late-night customers,” Cook tells the TWEJ. He adds “$10 million would have bought a lot of picnic tables. I cannot count how many times work was revisited to correct issues.”
NEW BIKE LANE THROUGH PLAZA (EWAN STREIT PHOTO)
The City says the plaza upgrades were “shaped by feedback from local businesses, community members, and stakeholders during the Bute Greenway engagement process.” The Bute Greenway refers to a proposed active transportation corridor linking Sunset Beach at English Bay to Harbour Green Park at Coal Harbour. Nelson Park and Jim Deva Plaza are also along that route. According to a timeline on the COV’s website, future segments of the Bute Greenway will be implemented this year.
Jeffrey Staates has lived downtown for 30 years and is in close proximity to the new plaza. “I don’t see an effective provision for an event space, unless it’s meant to close the street. The previous pop-up plaza hosted tons of events and was great to have as a little gathering space, and a bookend for Bute like Jim Deva Plaza. The new plaza is missing trees, and tree count is down. West side feels particularly barren,” he tells the TWEJ.
Plazas are supposed to be warm and accessible gathering places. We asked Staates if he thought that was accomplished in this civic project. “I find the space pretty chopped up as a meaningful central space. Nice to have level seating and tables and space for Breka to spill out. The Plaza feels a bit blank on the Robson, lane, and west sides. The small central space between the shade structures is dominated by the trash and recycling bins - a disappointing centre feature.”
Staates feels the new bike lane makes the Bute-Robson much smaller than it looks. “Very unfortunate to dedicate an active travel lane (this was a fight at Jim Deva too, but happily the City favoured shared use, pedestrian priority) as the result is half a plaza for the community. The resulting paving patterns and curbs are quite confusing, and really diminish the expression of a wall-to-wall space,” he says.
LOOKING NORTH IN PLAZA TO ROBSON (EWAN STREIT PHOTO)
Staates agrees with Mike Cook that more could have been done on the north side of the plaza, a lost opportunity. “Absolutely. Renderings suggest something similar. Perhaps it’s the same fate as Jim Deva Plaza, with only half being completed until an undetermined future time. North side looks very much ignored. Asphalt and a temporary floral display. A pop-up plaza would help,” he says. Staates believes the plaza was relatively poorly executed and also witnessed “quite a lot of demolition and repouring of concrete through the process.”
The Bute-Robson Plaza will be co-managed by the City and the Robson Street Business Association, who’ll be collaborating on programming, similar to what we’ve seen at Jim Deva Plaza with pop-up markets, live music and other small events.
West Ender John Streit has been a B.C. radio, TV and online journalist
for more than 25 years. You can listen to John anchor
Global News weekday mornings on 730 CKNW Radio in Vancouver.
