Prince Rupert's Tale of Two Staircases

The next update on the fate for the Closed 4th Avenue Pathway/Staircase
could come with the September 11th Council Session

The path ahead for two pieces of walking infrastructure in the community gained some notice at the Monday City Council session.  

The first up for review, was the Walkway/Pathway that connects the Fourth Avenue West area with the downtown core, a popular travel way that has been closed since the start of the year owing to concerns over its state of repair.

The Walkway/Staircase was the subject of Memorandum to Council from Operations Director Richard Pucci on Monday, a document which we previewed prior to the Council Session.

In it, Mr. Pucci observed that there was not much to share on the situation just yet, other than staff have spent approximately half of the money budgeted towards the study so far.  

That report, which has yet to be delivered to city staff will outline the potential cost ahead. It's a document that should be in hand by the next Council session.

The content of the memorandum gave cause for one question of note at the Council session on Monday, that from Councillor Nick Adey, who observing of the importance of the infrastructure piece for residents of the area asked for a bit more detail towards the  report.

"I'm interested in hearing a little bit more about the 4th Avenue pathway, I noted the phrase: 'assessments still being processed' even though it seemed that they had been done. So, I'm not quite sure what that means but I think that those community members that were interest in that subject would appreciate a bit of an update there anyways"

Before turning the topic over to the Operations Director for comment, Mayor Pond offered up an  observation towards the report. 

 "I'll just note for members of the public that may not have an Agenda in front of them, this report indicates that approximately half of the 50,000 dollar budget for assessments has been spent and that's what Councillor Adey is enquiring about"

Operations Director Pucci added some background towards his written report outlining the path ahead.

"Basically, what I'm saying it's still in process, the assessments have been completed on the ground, we have not received the reports yet. 

So we expect to receive the reports at the end of this week, or early next week and that will tell us what requirements need to be fullfilled in order to open it back up.

If there's structural issues that need to be tended to, railings, stairs, decking so we'll get that, either at the end of this week or early next week.  And then we can formulate whether we have it within the budget or if the file will come back to Council ..."

The Mayor then asked if a report could be ready for the next Council session, which Mr, Pucci confirmed was the plan towards further updates.

Work continues to develop parking above the bluffs
at the Cow Bay Lot as well as a staircase

While the 4th West walkway generated some discussion, the plans to develop a new staircase as part of the latest parking initiative for Cow Bay provided for no comments or observations on the night.  

That report for Council also presented on Monday, was accepted without any contribution from the Council membership, other than a suggestion from Mayor Pond that the public may find the report of some interest.

The staircase which was first proposed earlier this summer, appears to be in the pre construction stage with a platform atop the bluff on First East set to take the project down along the Johnny's Machine Shop side of the existing Cow Bay Parking Lot.

So far there does not appear to have been a cost estimate provided towards that project, along with any timeline towards its development. Though judging by the progress on First Ave East that would seem to be soon.

The only note related to the newest variation of the parking options from Monday was an item that advises there is no budget impact at this time.

All of this we imagine may be of some interest for those on 4th West, who may be wondering why the city is looking to build a new staircase to a parking lot, while their connector to the heart of the city remains closed.

The staircase plans are just one element of a wider proposal for parking in the tourist and commercial sector of the Cow Bay Area. 

Among some areas for Council members to explore and perhaps share some observations towards.  

An already approved plan to create new angled parking on First Avenue East with the stairs to connect the First Avenue East area with Cow Bay, that initiative is anticipated to provide for 7 to 9 spots on the bluff area above Cow Bay.

An area along George Hills Way that could
soon be developed to allow for  parking

As well the report notes that Staff has developed opportunities for 2 newly defined areas on the 3rd Avenue Extension and George Hills Way. 

Monday's report from the Operations Director,  did not return to the previous plans outlined in June to reduce parking spaces in the Cow Bay lot itself; or a proposal to develop a larger parking lot further down George Hills Way towards the former Pacific Net and Twine location.

That all came out of an announcement towards the disposition of property, a topic that also hasn't come back to Council for comment since.

With no one on Council inclined to take an interest in the report for a wider discussion, there were no questions or observations made Monday towards any of the elements under consideration, current or past.

Those with an interest in the city's work on parking themes so far, can find a helpful tutorial available from the Rupert Talks portal, which has included many of the past studies and other elements of the parking question in Prince Rupert.

You can review Councillor Adey's comments towards the 4th Avenue Walkway from the City's Video Archive starting at the 20 minute mark.

More notes of interest from the Monday Council Session can be explored here.