Original Message to Councilor Daniel Fontaine August 8 2024:

The work has just started to remove the white sticks and make the curbing permanent. 
That is good news, but it sounds like nothing has changed in terms of the geometry (i.e. the radius of the curbing) based on my chat with the construction guys on site yesterday morning.  

The City received multiple negative comments with respect to the radiuses during the BeHeard engagement.session.   Below I have dropped in a snip-it from the archived  BeHeard page that summarized the status and states they (the City) were going to strike a balance in accordance with the statement they highlighted in the second bullet point in the snip-it  below.  

However, based on this morning's discussion I guess I am  foolish to believe the City actually cares about hearing from the residents and their concerns.

Snipit from Beheard Website:

Message from Councilor Daniel Fontaine to City of New Westminster Engineering August 8 2024:

I was asked to pay a visit this evening to see firsthand what the City is doing to add some traffic bulges at Rickman and Cumberland. I met with the President of the local resident association and he reports the following:
- feedback provided to the City via Be Heard was not incorporated into the final design
- the design is flawed in that larger vehicles will be unable to turn out without going into the oncoming lane which is dangerous.

They would like to know what type of vehicle was used to establish the line markings?
I assume the consultant would be able to provide us with that information?
Is there any ability to modify the design at this stage to in incorporate resident feedback?

Reply from City of New Westminster Engineering toCouncilor Daniel Fontaine August 9 2024:

I have learned that concrete is scheduled to be poured today, and therefore the project has proceeded past the stage at which changes to the design are feasible.

The consultant engineer who was responsible for the design of the curb extensions, has provided the follwing design criteria:
• Passenger vehicle (TAC P = 5.6m length) for the “managed vehicle”, which is the most common vehicle using the street
• Light single unit truck (TAC LSU = 6.4m length) for the “design vehicle”, which still commonly uses the street, and may start in its approach lane but may use the full road width on the receiving road
• Fire truck (TAC B12 = 12.2m length) for the “control vehicle”, which infrequently uses the street, and may use full pavement width of both streets for a turn
• Vehicles are meant to traverse these intersections slowly to prioritize pedestrians. It is recognized that the turn radius is tight, and it should be noted that this is done purposefully. Motorists are required to slow to a very low speed to make the turn safely, which is best practice at an intersection in a neighbourhood such as this. The slow speed required to complete the turn movement significantly reduces the risk of collision should incoming and outgoing vehicles arrive at the intersection concurrently.

The Transportation Manager is currently on vacation, returning in 3 weeks time if further discussion is required. I will leave it with you & MVHRA President, Syd, to reach out to me in 3 weeks should you still wish to proceed with arranging a meeting.

Issues we have shared with council that are ongoing concerns by the residences of MVH:

• April 23, 2024
a. Short cutting between 8th & 10th
b. A workable Parking strategy from City within MVHRA neighbourhood needed
c. Status of NEXT Door APP discussion with NWPolice ongoing (this is in lieu of Neighbourhood Block Watch that ended)
d. Staff participation with in-person meeting on occasion would desirable

• July12, 2024
At the end of May, the Residential Associations of New Westminster had an opportunity to meet with the New Westminster Police Community Policing Department. As a follow up to that meeting, the NWPD Community Engagement Coordinator has provided updated information in response to some of the key issues raised during that meeting. Both can be found below.

In Summary:
The NWPD Resources document provides a quick brief overview of some phone numbers and websites you can reach out to. As NWPD states, "We are here for you"
Note: MVHRA has tentatively secured the NWPD Community Engagement Tema for our next MVHRA General Meeting in September 2024.
The Nextdoor Settings Configuration document provides suggested notification settings which the NWPD has shared with the intent to improve the notification function of the Nextdoor Application

NWPD Resources
Nextdoor Settings Configuration
16 Neighbourhood Designations Map
Last Update: July 12, 2024

A bit of background regarding the NEXTDOOR app use

NWDP has been using this app since April 2020 for posting items for New Westminster’s residents info on a regular bases. Per my correspondence with the Communications Officer at NWDP, over the last three months of 2024, NWDP has posted 9 times in April, 11 times in May, and 13 times in June. This doesn’t include when they respond to a question someone asks in the comments section of their posts. The majority of the time, posts from NWPD go out to all of New Westminster. There are times, however, when NWPD will post to a specific neighbourhood. As of July 9th NWPD has advised, they have 5,552 members on Nextdoor. 4,291 claimed households in 16 different neighbourhoods. With 461 claimed households in the neighbourhood called “The Heights.” per their delineated boundaries ( reference NWDP Zone map).

MVHRA executive notes at this time, based on anecdotal replies, the MVHRA has received from a handful of members a few months ago, this App has not been received with glowing reviews to date. However, If you are stilling using the app and make these notification changes let us know at: Nextdoor App Comments

• February 29th, 2024
a. We are hoping to hear back from NWPD’s latest NEXT DOOR app evaluation at the May 30th meeting with the RA presidents
b. All comments shared with the MVHRA president regarding Next Door were forwarded to the NWPD community engagement department

Traffic short cutting 8th to 10th / 10th to 8th
1. Preliminary numbers shared as received from City, but City still studying.
2. No significant movement, but sharing the latest correspondence from the City.

Replies from City Engineering:

• September 19 2024
They had checked the recent volumes, vehicle types, and speeds along several locations, and had mainly found that trucks volumes were a bit higher than desired. We’ve had our commercial vehicle enforcement unit of the police watching and enforcing where possible, and advised that the last while they haven’t noticed anything of note. We’ll be continuing to monitor the volumes and vehicle types here, but do let us know if there are any further concerns.

• Apil 18th 2024
We are currently summarizing our traffic survey data but I can give you some high level findings. We collected the data last autumn and reviewed them on their own as well as comparing them to previous surveys from 2016/17. We found that the vehicle volumes and speeds for the most part had actually dropped compared to the past, with Chilliwack having the highest traffic by far of the streets with around 60 vehicles per hour (about one per minute) during the weekday afternoon period. Speeds had also gone down, with the 85th percentile speeds in the mid-30km/h range; a little higher than the 30km/h we desire for local streets, but not to the point where we’d prioritize additional measures to slow traffic. What has gone up is the presence of larger vehicles – vehicles such as larger multi-axle trucks that most people would associate as heavy commercial vehicles –with some locations having more than five a day on an average weekday.
This isn’t desirable, and we’ll be reviewing the findings in more detail to come up with appropriate remedies. I will also provide this info to the NWPD’s Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement team. Note that observed truck violations can be reported in to the NWPD non-emergency number at 604-525-5411 or reported using the on-line system at: https://www.nwpolice.org/onlinereporting

• February 6th 2024
We had done surveys along Laurel St, Churchill Ave, Chilliwack St, and Chestnut St late last year (2023), and are currently being reviewed. More information will be provided as we continue to analyze this data, noting that currently staff efforts are onto other priority items.

Replies from the City

• September 19 2024
They have checked with the staff involved with this, and the consultant they’ve brought on is in the process of reviewing the current streetlights and inventory. They will have a plan on streetlights in the first half of next year.

• April 18th 2024
As noted before, staff will be looking to do a review of the street lighting in the neighbourhood. We’re close to retaining a consultant to assist staff with this, and will start this review sometime this spring.

Non-residents parking - in particular Richmond St - City still studying

Replies from the City

• September 19 2024
We’ve kept on top of reminding development projects in the area to not park on the streets in the area. Bylaws hasn’t noted anything significant.

• April 18th 2024
As mentioned earlier, we considered a “no parking except for residents” type signage, but from conversations with others that had implemented similar restrictions, we were told that after a short time the effectiveness was minor. It was also difficult if not impossible to monitor or enforce. As such, it’s no longer considered a workable solution. We’re continuing to remind known construction projects in the area about not parking on the streets in the area. We’re also currently discussing other possible measures; I know that residents have brought up permit parking before, but please let us know if there are any other thoughts or ideas that may be suggested.

• February 6th 2024
We had instructed some known construction projects in the area to not have trades personnel park in the area, acknowledging that this doesn’t necessarily cover all non-resident parking in the area, and based on your e-mail it appears that it’s still an issue. Strategies such as time-limited parking except with permit as you’ve suggested has previously been done in other neighbourhoods in New Westminster in the past, but as a policy this isn’t something that we do currently. An idea that I have seen Vancouver do is put in signs that say no parking except for residents of said block. This strategy doesn’t include permits or decals indicating residence on the block, but uses the wording of the parking signs as a deterrent to would-be parkers. It could also involve residents identifying known non-residence parking to bylaw officers as a means of deterrence/enforcement. This idea is something that staff here have been discussing, but I’m not sure of its potential effectiveness nor whether it is something that residents along Richmond St are comfortable with. If we have other thoughts or if there’s a measure that we’re implementing, we’ll let you know.