What’s Up With That? 36 parking spaces added for Firstenburg center, library

I was wondering if you could provide us an update: In the spring we saw an article in The Columbian (we think it was in your column) regarding the expansion of the parking lot at Firstenburg Community Center and the Cascade branch of the library. The article told us that 40 new spots were going to be created but the work would not be done until fall. Those of us in the morning Silver Sneakers classes at Firstenburg (the senior fitness classes) have been hoping the additional parking is still on track, but we haven’t seen signs of construction yet. Would you let us know where it stands? And, yes, we go for the exercise, but since we range in age from the 60s to the 90s with various medical conditions and canes, walkers, and wheelchairs, not all of us can walk long distances and we would really appreciate more parking.

— Carol Carlson and buddies at Silver Sneakers, East Vancouver

You have a great memory Carol. I wrote about the Firstenburg parking lot addition on May 12. At the time, the city was preparing to start construction.

Since then, 36 spaces have been added to the Firstenburg Community Center and Cascade Park Library, according to Tim Haldeman, director of facilities, risk and property management for the city.

You might not have noticed construction because it was, well, easy to miss.

Haldeman, who supervised the addition, said 27 of those new spaces came in the form of a new employee lot to the south of the Cascade Park library. Those spaces aren’t visible from the main lot.

Why an employee lot?

“The idea was to provide employee parking in southwest corner to free up 27 spaces in the main lot,” Haldeman said.

Nine spaces were also added in the main lot by cutting into landscaping and converting motorcycle parking into car parking. Those changes took place slowly.

A few days’ worth of work was spread out over a three-week period to make sure construction didn’t add to the parking problem, Haldeman said. They also planned construction so it wouldn’t occur during peak use times, he said.

Hopefully it’s a little easier to snag a spot before your fitness classes, because the city won’t be able to add more parking anytime soon.

“That’s about all the parking plans we have for that lot without carving into natural areas, taking trees down, taking out expensive landscaping and putting in retaining walls,” Haldeman said. “There’s really not room for more parking up there without acquiring more land. That’s really not in the cards right now with the budget situation.”

Got a question about your neighborhood? We’ll get it answered. Send “What’s up with that?” questions to neighbors@columbian.com.