The Editor,
Developers are pressing municipalities throughout Metro Vancouver to relax the parking stall provision from 1.5 to 1.35 spaces per unit for “transit-oriented” projects. This action can have unsightly and annoying consequences, as demonstrated in the Klahanie neighbourhood of Port Moody.
But municipal traffic engineers need to consider the commercial and service vehicle parking needs of mixed-use, transit-oriented developments.
Recently, I observed a tractor-trailer car transporter parked in the two-way left-turn bay in the middle of St. Johns Street in Port Moody, where it unloaded vehicles to a major car dealership. Obviously, this business was not designed with an appropriate off-street delivery bay.
Similarly, a tractor-trailer delivery truck routinely unloads in a laneway in PoMo’s Newport Village. This vehicle obstructs traffic on this laneway, which backs up into a nearby intersection where vehicles and pedestrian safety is jeopardized. The six-storey office building at this location should have been designed with an appropriate off-street delivery bay.
The mixed retail-commercial-residential developments associated with the Evergreen Line need to have generous visitor parking spaces. As well, appropriately designed off-main-street service bays need to be provided for large delivery vehicles.
D.B. Wilson, Port Moody
