[Presto]

VANCOUVER (http://www.news1130.com/2016/03/07/vancouver-buys-cp-rail-land-for-urban-greenway-ending-long-running-dispute/) – A long-running dispute between the City of Vancouver and Canadian Pacific Railway (TSX:CP) over an old rail corridor has been settled.

The city has agreed to pay $55 million for the railway route, which stretches nine kilometres and consists of almost 17 hectares of open space.

Mayor Gregor Robertson says the agreement means the city will be able to transform the area into a greenway that connects neighbourhoods from False Creek near downtown to Marpole on the south side.

Residents have been growing gardens and planting trees on the land for over a decade.

Talks on the sale had broken off, and in 2014 the city said CP planned to start clearing the Arbutus corridor for railway use again.

The city says the deal ends four years of negotiation and means residents can continue to use the corridor as a walking and cycling route.

Good deal? It better be strict on the public access. I foresee residents staking out there own territory.

[melloman]

^^I'm sure the city will be quick to plot out the "community gardens" so residents can't just go out and do their thing.. That and hey, if the residents do go stake their own shit, City will just hand out fines and demolish whatever is in the way. :thumbsup:

[GLOW]

inb4 9 km long double wide bike lane :troll:

good on the city if they are creating community gardens and such. gl trying to boot people that laid claim to free land though. instead of battling CP it'll be CoV :ilied:

[Timpo]

ok so what are they gonna use it for?

[Timpo]

ok so I didn't know what Arbutus Corridor was, and according to Google...ummm it's like a railway??

http://img.src.ca/2014/08/15/635x357/140815_qs8oi_corridor_arbutus_vancouver_sn635.jpg
http://www.cbc.ca/polopoly_fs/1.2637046.1399607819!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/arbutus-corridor.jpg

[Spoon]

The city says the deal ends four years of negotiation and means residents can continue to use the corridor as a walking and cycling route.

Of course.

[Devastator]

City should build a 9 km long townhouse complex along with community gardens, cycling route and outdoor space and sell it to canadian citizens only.

[nabs]

They will eventually be sold to developers for more shitty condos.

[Ikkaku]

sweeeeet.. now I don't have to fear being stuck at the train track waiting for it to pass, while needing to take the shit of a lifetime

[tiger_handheld]

If the city was smart, they would bring the Bombardier train back into this rail line and just service it with a few stops. OR get rid of all bike lanes that go North / South and have everyone use this route.

[Nlkko]

Wow only 55 mil for all that.

[StylinRed]

they should use it for transit... a tram + bike/walking lanes over top the tram, and a road for cars too

but of course the city would never do that

[asian_XL]

Wow only 55 mil for all that.

or Erin Andrews nude video? BrokeBack

[ancient_510]

they should use it for transit... a tram + bike/walking lanes over top the tram, and a road for cars too

but of course the city would never do that

CP shouldn't have sold and instead pulled a "Blue Bus" and put in passenger service light rail that accepts Compass.

Route could have followed the (almost complete) right of way from Main Street SkyTrain, to Olympic Village Canada Line, to Granville Island, over to Arbutus, down to the Fraser, along south Burnaby, into New West, terminating at Columbia SkyTrain.

If Richmond Olympic Oval hadn't messed it up, you could have even had a spur line all the way to Steveston.

The obvious issue is one track two directions. Could probably have been solved with rigorous scheduling, traffic control, and switching. Construct several passing points en-route too.

[Timpo]

City should build a 9 km long townhouse complex along with community gardens, cycling route and outdoor space and sell it to canadian citizens only.

holy fuck $55 million for 9kms?

That's $6.1 million/km
which is $1 million/163.9m

How wide are those railways?
It actually doesn't seem like a bad deal at all for that area.

[Jmac]

holy fuck $55 million for 9kms?

That's $6.1 million/km
which is $1 million/163.9m

How wide are those railways?
It actually doesn't seem like a bad deal at all for that area.
0.17 km^2 / 9 km = 0.0189 km (18.9 m) on average.

[Timpo]

0.17 km^2 / 9 km = 0.0189 km (18.9 m) on average.

ok so...

18.9m(width) x 163.9m(length) = 3,097.71 sq.m
3,097.71 sq.m =33,343.47 sq.ft

So the City of Vancouver bought, on average, 33,343 sq.ft of land for $1,000,000?

Seems like a steal :eek:

[Hondaracer]

It is, however the width of the property is pretty prohibitive

[ancient_510]

It is, however the width of the property is pretty prohibitive

The typical Vancouver lot is 33 ft wide by 120 ft deep.
18.9m = 62 ft.

Turn the typical frontage 90°. I don't see the issue here.

[Gnomes]

CPR will also get 75% of 1st 50mil, 50% of 2nd 50mil, and 30% of 3rd 50mil if COV sells it. That is 37.5mil + 25mil + 15mil = potentially additional 77.5mil (if city sells land for >150mil)

[Digitalis]

So if they built they canada line on the railway we wouldn't of had to deal with 3 years of construction screwing up the cambie corridor?

[snowball]

So if they built they canada line on the railway we wouldn't of had to deal with 3 years of construction screwing up the cambie corridor?

Except it wouldn't make sense to put a transit stops on Arbutus when most of the public transit customers live no where near it.

[GLOW]

Except it wouldn't make sense to put a transit stops on Arbutus when most of the public transit customers live no where near it.

doesn't stop the city from taking out driving lanes and putting in bike lanes when most of the people would use the driving lane (car or bus) KappaPride