Demand for on-street parking in Willoughby should be managed

There is truth to the saying that you can’t build your way out of congestion. This is true for highway and for on-street parking. Late last year, the Township of Langley expanded 80th Avenue in Willoughby by removing temporary curb parking. This caused an uproar with some people in the community who claimed there wasn’t enough parking in the area. Interesting enough, the Township has the highest off-street/on-site residential parking requirement of any municipality in Metro Vancouver.

You can read more the history of parking in this area of Willoughby on a previous blog posts.

Anyway, the Township commissioned a study to see what was really going on in the community.

Survey area, near 80th Avenue west of 208th Street. Select image to enlarge.

Parking Accumulation by Zone, Weekday Time. Select image to enlarge.

Parking Accumulation by Zone, Weekend Time. Select image to enlarge.

As you can see from the proceeding graphics, while on-street parking is certainly oversubscribed in some areas, there is ample off-street/on-site parking available throughout this part of Willoughby. The survey measured vehicles that were parking in driveways, but did not count vehicles that may have been parked in garages as it is a well-known fact that many people use garages for anything but parking vehicles.

As a result of this report, Township Staff is recommending no changes occur in existing neighbourhoods. They are suggesting that more on-street and off-street parking be built and required in future neighbourhoods.

Increasing parking supply will increase the cost of homeownership, and the cost to build and maintain roads in the Township. Everyone will pay more to live in the Township. Increase parking supply will also impact the future accessibility of the community.

As parking supply isn’t the problem; there is enough off-street/on-site parking and only some areas have on-street parking over-subscription. The real solution is to manage the demand for on-street parking where it is required. This would encourage people to use the already provided on-site parking. Of course there would be enforcement costs, but these costs could be recovered. The Township could implemented a permitting system for example.

On-street parking is a limited resource. The Township of Langley needs to look at managing it better considering that there is an ample supply of off-street parking today.

First Look at new Timms Community Centre

As I posted about a few weeks ago, the City of Langley has been planning to build a new Timms Community Centre, directly west of City Hall, for several years now. Steve Jobs would have been proud about the lack information made available to the public about this $14.3 million project until the City of Langley revealed the new community centre design yesterday afternoon.

Artist rendering of new Timms Community Centre, looking from Douglas Crescent. Select image to enlarge.

The new 35,000 sq. ft., two-storey facility also includes one-level of underground parking. The new Timms will include a full-size gym, walking track, fully equipped fitness centre, a community kitchen, and plenty of flexible room/community space. The design of the centre is to truly be a community hub. One of the challenges in the City today is a lack of flexible community space, so I’m glad that this is addressed in the community centre design.

Site plan for new Timms Community Centre. Select image to enlarge.

Timms fronts Douglas Crescent and is fully pedestrian and cycling-friendly. In fact, I’m happy that there is very little surface parking. Now there is surface parking in the back of the building which unfortunately fronts Fraser Highway, but it is my understanding that this is temporary. I’m hoping that Council and City staff will work quickly to improve the public realm along Fraser Highway; replacing the surface parking with a better, more pedestrian-friend land use.

Overall, I’m very impressed with the new design for the Timms Community Centre and I believe it will have a positive impact in Downtown Langley and provide a much needed social hub for people, including seniors and/or people with lower incomes, who live nearby. The new Timms is expected to be completed by December 2015.

New townhouse projects help build walkable neighbourhood

Before I get into today’s topic, I wanted to clear up some terminology. A rowhouse is a single family unit constructed in a row of attached units separated by property lines. If you live in a rowhouse, you are not part of a strata plan. A townhouse is exactly the same as a rowhouse except that it is part of a strata plan. In the South of Fraser, most rowhouses are townhouses as they are in strata plans.

When most people think of rowhouses, they imagine two- or three-story units that run continually along a street front. Maybe images of Philadelphia come to mind. But, rowhouses can take other forms. For example, they could be single-story duplex units.

During the 1990s many townhouse developments were single-story units that turned their back to the street. They were usually only accessible by a gated private road. For a whole host of reasons, municipalities discouraged these gated developments. At the same time townhouses started to resemble the traditional three-story form, but with a catch.

The townhouse’s front and centre feature was the garage door. Also, most townhouse projects were designed with their backs against the street and private laneways required to access the units.

These designs did very little to improve the public realm. As these units are inward focused, it inhibits “eyes and ears” on the street which is key to improving perceived safety. Also as people’s front yards are driveways in these inward-focused designs and backyards are cut off from the street with large fences, there is very limited pedestrian-friendly mixing space which limits street life and the ability of people to serendipitously encounter their neighourhoods. These design decisions make it harder to build a vibrant and healthy community.

One of the good things about the City of Langley is that many of the townhouse projects built since the early twenty-first century, actually front the street. The one major issue was that the garage was still the most prominent feature.

At the last City of Langley Council Meeting, two new townhouse projects were on the table. The great thing about these projects are that they have small front yards, and the garage is actually accessed via a back laneway. These townshouses will contribute to the creation of a better public realm and should enhance the quality of neighbourhoods.

Street view of proposed townhouse project at 19690-19720 55A Avenue. Select image to enlarge.

Site plan for proposed townhouse project at Michaud Crescent and 201 Street. Select image to enlarge.

Street view of proposed townhouse project at Michaud Crescent and 201 Street. Select image to enlarge.

Going forward, the City of Langley should require that all townhouse projects have some units that must front the street with garages accessed via laneways. This design will create great walkable communities. Of course one of the keys to building walkable townhouse (or rowhouse) communities is that there must be shops, services, jobs, and transit within easy walking distance. The two projects before Langley City Council are within an easy walk of Downtown Langley and frequent transit.

Three-storey townhouses/rowhouses are a great form of “single-family” style housing and can help support the creation of walkable, accessible communities, designed to put people first.

Be a part of studying the link between your health and your community

Over the past decade, researcher have started to study in earnest the link between physical and mental health, and the built-form of the communities and neighbourhoods that we live in. Last year, I posted about as research TransLink commissioned and complied on the links between land-use, transportation, and human health.

This research suggested that people who live in walkable neighbourhoods with access to transit are healthier than people who live in auto-oriented areas.

The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, Fraser Health Authority, and the eHealth Strategy Office at the University of British Columbia have teamed up to create the My Health, My Community project. As part of the project, they are asking people over the age of 18 in Metro Vancouver to complete a survey.

The survey gathers information about the physical health, mental well-being, eating habits, transportation patterns, and neighbourhood characteristic of its participants. The following one minute video explains things in a bit more detail.

Once the survey results are complied, My Health, My Community should have a better understand of the complex links between health outcomes, our lifestyles, and where we live. The end goal of the project is to provide recommendations on how to build communities that improve our physical health and mental well-being.

My Health, My Community is seeking to get people from all parts of the region to complete their survey. While they have a high-level of participation from most parts of the region, they need more people to participate in the South of Fraser.

I completed the survey in about 15 minutes this morning. The survey asks for some very personal information, but you can choose to not answer some questions. Since this survey is run by provincial health authorities, they already handle your sensitive personal information.

The survey is open until June 30th and you could win Apple products. More information about the survey is available on the My Health, My Community website.