Granville Street Pedestrian Zone to be extended after World Cup ends

Vancouver city council voted on Thursday to extend the Granville Street Pedestrian Zone to Labour Day.

This means that the eligible FIFA-related temporary patios and public realm expansions will also remain.

In the council meeting on Thursday, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said he has not seen the city this alive since the 2010 Olympic Games and he wants to keep the energy going throughout the summer.

According to the City of Vancouver, the cost to extend the zone for an additional seven weeks is an estimated $4.75 million.

Weekly engineering costs are $300,000, including sanitation services, traffic management, washrooms and other operational costs.

Weekly policing costs are $200,000, according to the city.

The total figure also includes a grant up to $1.25 million to the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association for activations and programming, the city added.

“Vancouver has rediscovered what’s possible when we put people at the heart of our city,” Sim said.

“Granville Street has been full of energy, local businesses are seeing more customers, and residents and visitors have told us loud and clear that they want this momentum to continue.”

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Restaurants, bars and other businesses have seen record sales since the five blocks between Georgia and Davie streets closed to bus and vehicle traffic in early June for the FIFA World Cup.

Coun. Sean Orr was absent for the vote and councillors Rebecca Bligh and Pete Fry opposed keeping the zone pedestrian-only until Labour Day.

“We had two days’ notice on this motion,” Fry said.

“We saw it go from three and a half million dollars to four million dollars to $4.75 million in less than 48 hours. To me, that suggests that the mayor didn’t have a really concrete plan and it’s just sort of throwing money at an idea and as stewards of public funds, we, I think, need a little bit more clarity.”

Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung said she thinks that spending the money is worth it.

“This is something that residents have been asking us for loudly and proudly,” she said. “We’ve heard from the local businesses that really, really want to see this continue.”

3:24 Vancouver watches Canada in the Round of 32

When it comes to moving food trucks back into the fan zone, the city said it is reviewing the safety, design and operational requirements of the pedestrian zone.

A food truck operator told Global News that he was sidelined from his regular spot on the Granville Strip during the FIFA pedestrian zone.

The city told Global News at the time that food trucks cannot move in and out of the fan zone each day due to the safety standards of the closure design.

The food truck, Downtown Hotdog, can remain in the fan zone because its commissary kitchen is on the same block as its vending location, allowing the business to operate without moving its trailer.

Vancouver city council also directed staff to explore the feasibility of temporarily reactivating the Granville Street Pedestrian Zone in November 2026 to support a potential Christmas Market and gather additional operational and economic performance data, according to a release.