Vancouver's Burrard Slopes to get a block-long park
The City of Vancouver is looking to complete a land assembly for a big park in Burrard Slopes.
It’s part of a long-term plan to build a neighbourhood park spanning an entire block between West 5th and 6th avenues and Pine and Fir streets, says Sarah Kirby-Yung, chair of the Vancouver board of parks and recreation.
“There’s a piece of land that has not yet been acquired by the city,” Kirby-Yung told the Straight in a phone interview.
The city has purchased most properties on the block in response to the increasing number of multifamily residential buildings in the neighbourhood, also home to light-industrial uses.
In September 2014, the park board opened a small park at the northwest corner of the intersection of West 6th Avenue and Fir Street.
In addition, the city is about to finish development of a new chunk of green space on the block, with a groundbreaking pop-up, or temporary, park at the southeast corner of the intersection of West 5th Avenue and Pine Street.
“It’s really a unique concept,” Kirby-Yung said about Vancouver’s first pop-up park, “and I love the idea of, you know, a cost-effective way of making green space available to Vancouverites as early as you can. I think this is a great example.”
Set to open soon, the park has sustainable features like pollinator plants for butterflies and bees and a rainwater cistern for watering park plants.
Kirby-Yung’s favourite is the wood for tables and benches that came from a fir tree that had fallen naturally in Stanley Park.
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