Construction at Park Royal will be ramping up this summer, much to the chagrin of nearby residents who characterize area traffic as "horrendous."
At their last meeting, West Vancouver council gave Park Royal North the green light to start on a variety of renovations including the relocation of a vehicle ramp and the addition of 200 rooftop parking spots.
Frustrated commuter Anne Hylands beseeched council to do something about the traffic snarls around the mall.
"I plead with you: no more apartment buildings there, and please do something about our traffic," she said. Hylands said she generally avoids driving through Park Royal "like a plague."
Construction of the Maison Senior Living care facility at Keith Road and Taylor Way will only exacerbate the situation, according to Hylands. Transit users who shop at Whole Foods end up needing to walk around 18 lanes of traffic and lug their groceries another 200 to 300 metres to get to a bus, said Coun. Nora Gambioli. Gambioli asked if there were plans to erect another pedestrian overpass, adding she was "really disappointed" to see the last one demolished.
There are no plans to build a new pedestrian overpass, said Park Royal vice-president Rick Amantea, explaining the old overpass saw only minimal use and was inaccessible for pedestrians with limited mobility.
One resident complained that the removal of sidewalks during construction left pedestrians walking in dirt.
It's in Park Royal's interest to make sure pedestrians can get to the stores and spend their money, said Mayor Michael Smith.
"Judging by the money being spent on Park Royal, obviously somebody's doing something right because the money didn't fall out of a tree," he said. "My faith in the free enterprise system is unbounded."
Violations of West Vancouver's noise bylaws were also a concern.
"This ends up costing the district and taxpayers a lot of money," Gambioli said, noting the staff time involved with investigating noise bylaw violations.
Construction on Park Royal North will be subject to the district's noise bylaws, said district planning director Bob Sokol.
Because large swaths of Park Royal fall on Squamish Nation land, development at Park Royal South and the Village at Park Royal was exempt from district bylaws.
While allowing the construction phase may be difficult, Park Royal has earned a degree of goodwill from the community, according to Coun. Bill Soprovich.
"Bike lanes, sidewalks and everything will be looked after. They are that type of shopping centre," he said. Safe cycling was a big concern for Coun. Craig Cameron, who said the bike lane going west on Marine
Drive ended up in some "nebulous, amorphous" state after passing Park Royal's towers.
"We continue to have depicted on these plans what I would call the road to nowhere," he said, noting the lack of connectivity between the Spirit Trail and bike lanes around Park Royal.
Park Royal is scheduled to begin work on connecting north/south bike lanes to the Spirit Trail and adding bike lane markings to east/west routes later this summer. Park Royal's mall construction plans include crushing and reusing removed concrete, gravel and asphalt.
