Opinion: The pop-up plazas’ proliferation isn’t the only COVID-era innovation many Vancouverites want to keep when the pandemic, hopefully, one day ends.
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After an unprecedented pandemic forced the City of Vancouver to rethink its use of public space, many of those innovations are now becoming permanent.
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The 20 “pop-up plazas” created around Vancouver during COVID-19 have been widely popular with residents and businesses, and the city recently confirmed most are expected to remain indefinitely. In addition, the city now plans to upgrade two plazas with “semi-permanent” fixtures, including furniture and a stage.
Cambie Village Business Association executive director Rania Hatz said her neighborhood tried for more than a decade to get a public plaza. During Canada Line construction, which created havoc for many Cambie businesses, representatives of the transportation project told the neighborhood association they would have a plaza around the time the train started running, Hatz recalled this week.
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“But when the project finished in 2009, and the trains were running, we said: ‘What happened to our public space?’ They said: ‘Well, we don’t have the money, we’ll put it on the agenda for within the next 10 years,’ ” Hatz said. “And we waited.”
The neighborhood kept pushing for a public plaza on a side street off Cambie, Hatz said, but the closest they got was the city allowing a one-day pop-up. That is, until COVID changed everything.
In the years before COVID, the city had taken a few tentative steps toward taking road space away from cars and letting people use it, starting with a mini-plaza off of Robson Street in 2017, and one off of Main in 2018. But then the pandemic pushed the city to go much farther much faster. When COVID’s 2020 arrival presented a sudden public health need for outdoor public gathering spaces to reduce the risk of virus transmission, the city created 20 “pop-up plazas” around town, most of which saw tables and chairs take over side streets just off commercial arterial.
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The city created the plazas in partnership with business improvement associations, non-profits and communities. A few didn’t work and were removed, but many “have been hugely successful,” said Rachel Magnusson, Vancouver’s branch manager of street activities.
About 15 pop-up plazas are expected to remain, Magnusson said this week, but if problems arise at any of them, or the local community no longer wants the plaza, they could be removed. Removal would be fairly easy, because most plazas are currently set-up as temporary installations, with a few light pieces of furniture and movable barricades to keep out cars.
But the city is eyeing larger, “semi-permanent” upgrades to two popular plazas, in Cambie Village and South Granville, and seeking public input on the designs until March 25 at shapeyourcity.ca/pop-up-squares.
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There are two design concepts for the plaza on West 18th Avenue just off Cambie: a “theatre concept,” with an elevated stage for small-scale concerts, and a “lounge concept” with more seating. Groups and members of the public can apply to host small-scale events at these locations.
The design proposed for the plaza on 13th just off Granville would facilitate small- and medium-sized events, with some immovable seating areas installed to replace the temporary tables and chairs.
Upgrade costs are estimated at around $100,000 per seat, Magnusson said.
The plazas’ proliferation isn’t the only COVID-era innovation many Vancouverites want to keep beyond when the pandemic, hopefully, one day ends. The restaurant patio expansion program was hailed as a success, and recently made permanent. The city also allowed bring-your-own alcohol consumption in certain designated areas, including a plaza on West 17th Avenue off Cambie and two off of South Granville.
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The South Granville Business Improvement Association had also been advocating for more public space before the pandemic, said executive director Ivy Haisell, including the idea of a public plaza.
“But there was no budget or commitment from the city” before COVID, said Haisell. “It was just an idea we felt would be very beneficial to the community.”
South Granville’s alcohol-permitted plazas saw “near 100 per cent support” from residents and nearby businesses, Haisell said, and the association has asked the city to keep them going.
“We had no issues,” Haisell said.
She shared one of the few complaints they received: “A resident felt there were too many Michael Bolton covers during our curbside concerts series … It can’t always be wins.”
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