Residents and pets should be able to find more relief, after the refresh of a public plaza in the bustling urban core of Central Lonsdale.
On Monday, city of North Vancouver council received a report on the planned refresh of Stella Jo Dean Plaza, on the 100 block of East 14th Street, next to the RCMP detachment.
The refresh will include new seating options, new plants and pet relief areas.
After being built in 1997, the plaza is part of a critical public space network in the city, staff said in a presentation to council.
But a lot has changed in the past 30 years. Many new towers have gone up in the area, significantly increasing the population density, said Dave Hutch, the city’s deputy director of parks and public space.
The city has been working to add public spaces in the area, he said. A new park at 16th and St. Andrews opened last week, and construction just started on another park on Eastern Avenue.
“Adding new parks and public spaces to our city is an effective way to support public space needs, but it can take time,” Hutch said. “We simultaneously need to ensure we’re also making the best use of existing spaces.”
North Van residents have high expectations for how these spaces serve them, he added.
One of the key changes to the plaza is changing the seating arrangement, which is currently fixed in place. Many of the existing benches will be replaced with movable chairs and tables.
“These chairs allow more flexibility to respond to changing seasonal needs,” Hutch said. “These also allow people to reshape the space to fit their social needs, whether that means reading a book alone in the shade, or meeting a few friends to catch up.”
The rising populace has also driven up Lonsdale's pet population.
To better accommodate furry friends, the refreshed plaza will include a pee patch with “target boulders,” and a mulch poo patch.
With taller towers bringing more shade, staff also plan to add more shade-tolerant plants to the plaza.
Work on the refresh is expected to begin soon and continue into the fall, staff said.
Councillors express concern over furniture theft
Coun. Don Bell expressed concern that some of the movable furniture might be stolen.
Hutch said staff are aware of video surveillance in the area and have been in discussions with RCMP.
“[Furniture theft] certainly hasn’t been something of note elsewhere, in places like The Shipyards,” he said.
Coun. Tony Valente said the plan makes a lot of sense.
“Supporting dog ownership has been on the rise in the city since the pandemic – and [we would be] getting better use out of this space,” he said.
The plaza is named after former longtime CNV councillor and Order of Canada recipient Stella Jo Dean, who died in 2018 at age 95. The site is also home to the Strength and Remembrance Pole, which was erected in 2019 to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
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