The word on the street is that Burnaby’s roadways, boulevards, sidewalks and lighting are getting a new look.
As major developments move forward in the four city centres, it won’t be just the skyline that changes – each brings with it new design elements at the street level, according to Stu Ramsey, manager of transportation planning for the City of Burnaby.
Ramsey spoke in detail at Monday night’s council meeting about what council, and residents, can expect to see.
“What we’ve tried to do here is take a comprehensive approach of advancing all of our goals, not just looking at it for mobility or the public realm, or the narrow perspective,” he said. “We’re trying to be very comprehensive about it.”
The city is focusing on town centres because they are transit hubs with easy walkability and accessibility, and because developers are covering much of the costs of street-level improvements in those areas as they build their new highrises and commercial buildings, he said.
“As you know, we have a number of significant developments coming through the rezoning process in the town centres, and that provided an excellent testing ground by bringing forward these ideas, having them reviewed by the development committee, by the public, by this council,” Ramsey said of the new design elements. “And what we are doing is bringing in ideas from around the globe.” The new elements include building setback zones, with seating and public art at commercial buildings, and landscaping and beautification for residential buildings, he explained.
The street itself is also different, with wider, smoother sidewalks set back from traffic, a cycling zone separated from cars and pedestrians, rain gardens to beautify the area and filter and slow rainwater.
In the front boulevard areas, there is space for light fixtures, bus stops, parking meters and lighting, according to Ramsey, but the designs for these are also being updated.
One example is the new lighting along Beresford Street in Metrotown, he said.
“These light fixtures illustrate we’re not just lighting the street, we’re also lighting the pedestrian area, and we’re doing it in a way that is attractive and interesting,” he explained.
Other elements that are not standard issue but are being added on some areas are public art displays, near rain gardens or in building setback zones, he said, and different styles of seating.
Ramsey showed council images of the different options being considered and incorporated into recent developments, including red barstool-style seating being used in one area.
“We’re working on creating better streets in support of better neighbourhoods,” he said.
Coun. Pietro Calendino said he is temporarily living in an apartment near one of the newly developed street areas discussed by Ramsey.
“I have to say it is very beautiful, very pleasant, very inviting for people to actually use the sidewalk,” he said, adding he thought the separate cycling area was especially beneficial to cyclists and pedestrians.
However, he pointed out the broader design can’t work everywhere in Burnaby.
“I think it’s a great advantage to have that kind of design for streetscapes in our town centres, and we could expand it to all the other neighbourhoods, but we don’t have the space in the streets,” Calendino said.
For more on the changes at the city’s town centres in Brentwood, Lougheed, Metrotown and Edmonds, go to www.burnaby.ca/town-centre-streets.
