Proposed parking at the Garden City Lands had some Richmond city councillors on the edge of their seats at Tuesday’s parks and recreation committee meeting.
The committee was being asked to endorse a plan to create a food and ecology centre, a playground and wooden boardwalks at the Garden City Lands, but the plans also include parking areas – street parking on No. 4 Road, a small parking lot off Alderbridge Way and 64 parking spots close to the new community garden.
Instead of building a parking lot off Garden City Road, Coun. Bill McNulty questioned why Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) didn’t allow the public to “borrow” their parking lot while tending to the community garden on weekends.
“Heaven forbid, we’ve given them a farm,” said McNulty.
“And brotherly love today, in 2022, we share. We give you educational opportunities for your students; let us use your parking on it.”
KPU’s Department of Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems currently 20 acres of the 136-acre Garden City Lands to allow students to study and practice farming.
The Garden City Road parking lot, the city report stated, is expected to be constructed as part of the proposed Agriculture and Ecology Centre, and it would be the biggest of the three proposed parking spaces.
McNulty suggested if KPU donated about 50 or so parking stalls, the city could implement a decal or sticker system and allow people to park for free while they go to the community gardens on Saturdays and Sundays.
McNulty also proposed a traffic installation, such as a pedestrian-controlled crosswalk, on Garden City Road, which would be cheaper than “black topping” an area on Garden City Lands.
“That should be looked at and it would solve not only parking on the lands, we could use the parking lot for something else.”
Several other councillors also raised concerns about accessibility, traffic congestion and the number of parking lots planned for the project.
Coun. Michael Wolfe said he supported parking on Garden City Road and Alderbridge Way, but not on No. 4 Road.
The city report proposed parallel parking stalls along No. 4 Road between the existing curb and the perimeter trail to provide parking for spots closest to the bog.
“There are great plants and native species that are going to be covered by that parking,” said Wolfe.
“The traffic stalling to go in and come out on a busy road, I just can’t support putting that parking network on No. 4 Road.”
Coun. Harold Steves suggested city staff look into the Walmart parking lot, which was originally meant to serve a park north of Alderbridge Way.
The park, however, was never built as the money was used to buy the Garden City Lands, according to Steves.
City staff told councillors all items on the proposal, including parking, “are still conceptual” and will come back for further review.
They added the items are on the list so the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) is aware of the key concepts and overall idea for the park.
The committee unanimously voted to forward the Garden City Lands proposal to the ALC for consideration. It will come to council for a final vote.
