Vancouver British Columbia - From turning an old rail car into a cafe, to suggesting the whole Arbutus Corridor be one big wild garden, Vancouver residents have some unique ideas on how the city should use land recently purchased from Canadian Pacific Railway.
 
City staff set up a pop-up city hall tent at the corner of Fir Street and West 6th on Saturday, along the nine-kilmetre route that the city bought for $55 million, to listen to concerns about plans to transform the corridor into the Arbutus Greenway.
 
It was the first of two pop-ups, the other held later in the afternoon at West 41st Street and West Boulevard.
 
So far, the plans include a transportation corridor featuring walking and cycling paths stretching from Marpole on the Fraser River to Kitsilano and False Creek, as well as light rail or streetcars.
 
Though city transportation manager Jerry Dobrovolny said Saturday that it's unlikely the city will go with the light rail option.
 
Many of the locals who dropped by the tent were pleased with the city's plans, though some argued it did not include enough space for more community gardens, including one woman, who told Dobrovolny that the community needs food more than bike paths.
 
"We are looking at opportunities to add more gardens, but right now our priority is the transportation corridor because this is very rare for us to have one long, continuous, strip," said Dobrovolny.
 
"We purchased the land as a transportation corridor, and it's zoned as a transportation corridor, so if we can do other things that will be great."
 
Others, like Kitsilano resident Jeff Burrows, wanted to see the city build something on site to mark the heritage of the historic neighbourhood.
 
"If we could get one of those old CP passenger rail cars, and get the city to rent that out as a coffee shop or something like that then we could appreciate the history of the place as well.
 
That would be kind of cool," said Burrows, a resident of the area for six years.
 
Burrows said with the street car, the costs could escalate because of the number of arterial roads it would need to cross, adding there are also some narrow areas that may be difficult to have both street car and bike/pedestrian paths.
 
"I am absolutely delighted that the city has been able to pull this off," said another local Ken Ohrn.
 
"It's going to be an asset for Vancouver and the people who live her for generations to come. Just like the seawall, Stanley Park, and all the little parks along Point Grey Road, and the beaches."
 
Ohrn applauded the city's move to create more green space for those choose not to drive, instead of building more freeways or using the land is an industrial zone.
 
"I like the idea of a way for people, who are on foot or on bike, to travel north-south on this side of town."
 
Dobrovolny said while the goal is to get the design for the corridor done by the end of this year, plans for the street car likely won't go ahead for another decade, at which time there would be public consultations.
 
He asked that while plans are underway residents don't go out "guerrilla gardening" without permits.
 
"You wouldn't start gardening on your neighbour's front yard without talking to them so you shouldn't show up on the city's land without talking to them."
 
Ellen Querengesser, a member of Kitsilano Community Gardens, who has a city-leased garden in the area, is concerned that after they build the transit route there may not be enough space for growing food.
 
"I hope to see a lot of gardens and room for community gardens. I hope it won't be overdeveloped."
 
The Arbutus Corridor runs through several upscale neighbourhoods including Arbutus Ridge, Shaughnessy, and Kerrisdale.
 
Some residents there have voiced opposition to running a rapid transit line through the area.
 
For many years the city and CP failed to come to an agreement about purchasing the land, with the city two years ago offering $20 million.
 
In 2014, CP brought in crews to tear out the community gardens that residents had planted along the route, arguing that it intended to store railway cars along the line.
 
The city filed an injunction to block the railway from reactivating the line, but it was dismissed in B.C. Supreme Court.
 
The city announced it had finally reached a deal with CP for $55 million earlier this month.
 
Tirrany Crawford.