It is a move that is intended to establish Granville St. as one of the Vancouver's greatest thoroughfares, but the removal of more than a hundred trees has some people stumped.
Crews started cutting down trees along the entertainment strip Tuesday as part of a $21 million neighbourhood facelift in time for the 2010 Olympics.
A total of 120 mainly ornamental cherry trees are now gone, to be replaced with 160 beech trees.
The city also plans to widen the sidewalks, build dedicated bus lanes and add green space as part of the Granville St. redesign project. Not everyone is pleased about the changes.
"Paving I'm all for, like renewing Granville and all that sort of stuff because it does need it. But c'mon guys, you can pave around trees," says Dereck Scwetz, who works on Granville St. "It's been done in a million cities before."
"It looks ugly and really, really bad," Maria Tempore told CTV News. "I just don't understand why they can't just leave them up."
But the director of the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association says people can't see the forest through the trees, so to speak.
"It's going to be a much healthier species, trees that are actually more suitable for a harsh urban environment," says Charles Gauthier. "If people look at the plan they'd see any effort to save those trees has been made, and the health of the original trees was really an issue."
He says a public consultation about the project in January was well attended, and about three-quarters of people surveyed overwhelmingly supported the effort.
The bulk of the facelift is set to begin December 1 with major changes expected between the Granville St. bridge and Cordova St. (400 to 1200 blocks).
A rejuvenation project this large on Granville Street has not been undertaken since the 1970's; something Gauthier thinks is long overdue.
"We've seen some amazing changes in terms of major developments and private money and now the city is going to make its commitment that is going to last a number of decades to come," he says.
Replacement trees are expected to be planted by September 2009, with all construction to be completed by November 2009.
Not all trees on Granville St. will be taken down. Many trees north of Georgia Street -- many older than 30 years-old -- will remain untouched.
