BC Supreme Court Rejects Legal Challenge to Stanley Park Bike Lane Restaurants | The Canadian News

The BC Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to the controversial Stanley Park bike lane filed by two companies operating in the park.

Furguson Point Restaurants, which owns the Teahouse in Stanley Park and Stanley Park Operations, which owns the Stanley Park Pavilion and Prospect Point Bar and Grill, launched the lawsuit in the spring, after the Vancouver Park Board voted to dedicate one lane of vehicular traffic. to bicycles. for the second summer in a row.

The companies sought to have the board’s decision reversed on the grounds that it was unreasonable.

In the trial grounds published on WednesdayJudge Sheila Tucker rejected that argument, stating: “A decision does not have to be perfect to be reasonable.”

The companies had argued that the Decision of March 10 Going forward with the bike path was based primarily on “the unfounded assumption that cycling terrain in 2021 would reduce carbon emissions” and the results of a “flawed or inadequate” public survey, according to the ruling.

Reduced vehicle access to the park could actually increase emissions due to idling vehicles or people driving further to other parks, while the survey was not representative of the public and did not consider the potential negative impacts of the lane on families, individuals with mobility or business problems, they argued.

Tucker ruled that none of those elements was a “central or significant” basis for the park board’s decision.

Park commissioners, he ruled, engaged in “a vigorous and multifaceted debate of the kind generally associated with legislative decision-making.”

In doing so, they heard a variety of arguments for and against the bike lane, including the potential adverse effects of the bike lane, and made individual decisions based on a variety of factors, Tucker ruled.

Tucker awarded the court costs to the park board.

The Stanley Park Bike Lane, which involves converting one of Stanley Park Drive’s two lanes for exclusive use by bicycles, was first implemented in spring 2020 in an effort to reduce overcrowding on the boardwalk between of COVID-19.

Opponents have criticized what they call a lack of consultation about the project and reduced access to the park for people with mobility impairments, while the park board says it received more than 11,000 responses to your public poll, and that the lane has proven to be a hit with families and less confident cyclists.

The lane is slated to remain in place until approximately October 31, 2021. However, the board continues to review vehicle access to the park as part of a longer-term mobility study.