Shaping Vancouver 2018: Mount Pleasant and the SkyTrain

Earlier in 2018, Vancouver City Council unanimously approved the Millennium Line Broadway Extension, which would add six new SkyTrain stops along the Broadway Corridor, including one in the middle of Mount Pleasant. Such an addition necessarily entailed a change to the existing character of the neighbourhood, leading many to ask about the role of heritage in transit planning, and how rapid transit in Vancouver can be expanded to contribute to the future of the neighbourhood.
This SkyTrain extension would cut directly through the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, which stretches from Cambie Street to Clark Drive along the Broadway Corridor. The junction where Main Street and Kingsway converge is the historic and cultural heart of this area, lined with pedestrian-friendly streets, independent stores and cafes, and a village atmosphere courtesy of affordable rental apartments, historic architecture, and independent businesses.
This extension of the Millennium Skytrain would include a new station in the core of Mount Pleasant. This has provoked some fears that rising property taxes and increasing rent & maintenance costs would squeeze out “the hip, little village”, as well as drive dramatic new developments. With such a major infrastructure project on the horizon in Mount Pleasant — similar to previous transformations of the Cambie Corridor — the City will have to determine how the qualities definitive of Mount Pleasant can be protected and/or adapted due to this comprehensive land use change.
Planners, developers, and policymakers in Vancouver have spent decades debating the improvement of the rapid transit network along the Broadway Corridor. As the City finalizes its policy plan, it has an opportunity to address a number of different social priorities, including housing affordability, neighbourhood integration, the strength of the Corridor’s job market, and the unique cultural fabric of Mount Pleasant.

In this session of Shaping Vancouver, the aim was to provide a space for participants to discuss:
How can we best assess the impact of the SkyTrain on the neighbourhoods that it passes through?
What features are essential to Mount Pleasant and how might they be compromised with the new development?
How can this development be conscious of the unique landscape that it will run through and incorporate the qualities that are valued in the neighbourhood so that the expansion enhances Mount Pleasant?
How can we balance the retention/protection of neighbourhood character with urban stresses that demand reorganization of space?