Vancouver’s newest bike path isn’t going to be approved without a fight.
A proposal to construct a paved bike path through Kitsilano Beach Park will be put before Vancouver Park Board tonight.
The proposed bike routes could cut through the treed grove between Ogden and McNicoll Avenue, the green space on the west side of Arbutus, behind the tennis courts and then join what is now a footpath on the Cornwall side of the park.
City staff, in a report to the park board, says the separate bike lane is necessary to avoid conflicts between “cyclists and pedestrians in this short stretch of seawall due to an abundance of shared pathways and poor wayfinding cues and signs.”
Opponents to the path, like Howard Kelsey, co-chair of the Kitsilano Beach Coalition, say any encroachment on the park itself is unacceptable.
“We are in favour of cycling, and we are in favour of common sense, but there is no common sense when you lay asphalt in a park,” Kelsey told Postmedia’s Denise Ryan.
“We don’t want the Tour de France coming through here.”
The proposed route has been a contentious issue for years as the Park Board has been working on developing a separated bike path for Kits Beach Park since 2013.
