Arbutus Greenway

Arbutus Greenway: character zones

By City of Vancouver

View sketches of each character zone

Zone 1

By City of Vancouver

Community gardens are a big part of the experience in this zone, while local parks provide a place a place to pause, relax, and play.
Zone 2

By City of Vancouver

Provides a series of garden rooms for seating, public art, and native planting.
Zone 3

By City of Vancouver

This area is defined by landscaped nooks for people to sit, relax, and enjoy the views to English Bay and the mountains.
Zone 4

By City of Vancouver

The design for this zone adds more landscaping to the existing tree canopy to create a Pacific Northwest forest-like experience. Lookout points celebrate views of the North Shore mountains.
Zone 5

By City of Vancouver

A variety of seating areas and informal landscaped areas.
Zone 6

By City of Vancouver

This zone celebrates the existing Victory Gardens on the eastside of the greenway, using wildflowers and native plantings to enhance biodiversity.
Zone 7

By City of Vancouver

Zone 7 features a variety of recreational opportunities, such as giant chess, ping pong, and bocce, and includes a small community gathering area at West 60th Ave.
Zone 8

By City of Vancouver

A fully-accessible lookout tower with views to the Fraser River Delta and Vancouver International Airport is the major feature in this zone.

The Arbutus Greenway will be a defining element of Vancouver’s urban landscape as a vibrant and beautiful public space for walking, cycling, and streetcar.

The Arbutus Greenway is one of several walking and biking paths we're developing to encourage people to use active and sustainable modes of transportation.

The project, which started in 2016, currently has a temporary asphalt path and attracts thousands of people every day, providing people an opportunity to walk, bike, roll from False Creek to the Fraser River. In light of its success, in 2018, City Council endorsed enhancing the path to give people of all ages and abilities places to gather and rest and enjoy the surrounding landscape.

We're planning and designing the future Arbutus Greenway. The long-term vision for the greenway includes distinct character zones that reflect the look and feel of the surrounding neighbourhood.

Project area

Planning the greenway

Projects like this take time, especially with complex engineering requirements and to ensure we have a meaningful public process that brings together all the best ideas from the community.

As part of the planning and design process, the project team had 7,000 touchpoints with members of the public at over 50 events, including a multi-day “charrette” or design workshop, numerous stakeholder workshops, open houses, and online surveys.

Here’s where we've come from.

2016

Temporary path

We built a temporary path for everyone to enjoy while we plan and design the future greenway.
Early 2017
Visioning

We consulted with stakeholders and the public on the vision for the future greenway.
- Visioning information boards
- Consultation summary report
Fall 2017

Design options

We developed several design options for the future greenway. We consulted with residents during the Design Jam.

Learn more about the Design Jam
April 2018
Proposed design concept

Drawing on public input and technical analysis, the proposed design concept features walking, cycling, and future streetcar paths, as well as public realm amenities.
September 2018
Option Lands

Council approved the removal of the lands between West 1st Ave and West 5th Ave from the Arbutus Corridor Official Development Plan.

The amendment does not change the existing zoning of the Option Lands. Any potential rezoning would be considered in a future public process.
- July 10, 2018 Council report
November 2019
False Creek Official Development Plan amendment

Public consultation on the proposed amendment to the False Creek Official Development Plan. The amendment is the final step in the planning process related to the “Option Lands” in the Arbutus Greenway corridor. The Option Lands were identified as not being needed for future greenway purposes.
- False Creek Official Development Plan amendment – information boards
We are here
September 2020

Zone 3 detailed design engagement

Proposed design for character zone 3 share and public invited to provide feedback before the design is finalized. Character zone 3 is a 600-metre section stretching from 16th Ave to West King Edward Ave, called “The Ridge.”
Winter 2020/2021

Council decision

The detail design for zone 3 will be presented to Council for review.
2020/2021

Construction

Zone 3 construction timeline

Project background

In 2016, we purchased 42 acres of land from Canadian Pacific Railway to create a public space known as the Arbutus Greenway. As part of this purchase agreement, we're required to design the greenway for various modes of transportation, including walking, cycling, rolling, and a future streetcar, in addition to public realm improvements.

A future streetcar is part of our longer-term vision for the Arbutus Greenway. This builds on the Arbutus Official Development and Transportation 2040 plans, as well as broader City policy regarding streetcar service. Find more information about the streetcar in our Proposed Design Concept information boards (13 MB) .

We have constructed a temporary asphalt pathway within the corridor to allow everyone to enjoy this space while the future greenway is designed and developed. The temporary pathway includes paved pathways and connections, benches, waste bins, and safety improvements at several intersections along the greenway.

Public engagement

Since 2016, the project team held several rounds of engagement with the public, stakeholders and Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, who provided feedback along the way.

City staff have held more than 50 public events, engaged with more than 7,000 people and received 4,000 survey responses over three phases of engagement to help inform the development of the temporary pathway and future greenway.

Learn about the project’s design jam workshop, travel tips, and more by viewing these videos .
Implementation strategy

The Arbutus Greenway will be constructed in phases based on Council priorities and available funding.

The Arbutus Greenway implementation strategy (1.5 MB) was endorsed by Council in 2018 and provides a framework for developing the greenway over numerous capital plans. The intention is to construct two zones during each capital plan cycle and complete the greenway by 2034.

The implementation strategy included several criteria for determining which zones should be implemented first. Zones 3 and 8 were identified as the best candidates for near-term development.