Another report going to Vancouver City Council this week is this one authored by Paige Thomson who is Manager of the Strategic Business Advisory at the City.
The attachment has a valuable inventory of all the parks in the city, with the date that they became parks. The Vancouver Charter allows the city to have park space in three manners: to have permanent parks, temporary parks, and “custody care and management areas”.
This report is important because it lays out exactly what a park is and what needs to happen if the status of parks is considered for a change. There has been some discussion on media of golf courses that are under city management-and there are three, McCleery, Fraserview and Langara. There has been some chat that golf courses because they are golf courses are not parks. That is wrong. All three of the City of Vancouver golf courses are parks, and would revert to other park use if they were not being utilized at golf courses.
As part of a densifying city, maintaining park space is important for recreational use today and also for future generations. Emerging work is showing the importance of access to green space and forest for mental and physical well-being.
This report serves to update and ensure that parks have the correct administrative designation and status. There’s also some interesting guidance at what needs to happen if a park is no longer a park. In that extremely unlikely case, only parks declared as parks by a by-law of Council OR purchased with funds borrowed with the “assent of the electors for the acquisition for permanent parks” can be considered for a change of use.
If it is a permanent park, that can be changed with resolutions from BOTH City Council and the Parks Board with two-thirds of members voting for the change. Land designated as “temporary” public park requires solely two-thirds of Council members to vote in favour to revoke the park use.
The current inventory here has 138 permanent parks and 19 that have partial park status.
Below is a YouTube video from the City Parks Alliance that talks about American examples of parks being economic incubators in cities. Past Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver describes the High Line in New York City and the Mayor of Greensville South Carolina details how Falls Park was created, which “daylighted” the falls for residents to access.
image:cbc
It’s interesting that Vanier is not included in the inventory of parks.
It is interesting to me how many of the large and relatively recently-created parks I am familiar with are not included in the inventory of parks with validated records of designation nor in the list of parks recommended for designation in this report. e.g.
George Wainborn Park,
David Lam Park,
Coopers’ Park,
Creekside Park,
Hinge Park,
Charleson Park,
Emery Barnes Park.
I wonder what the reason is why these parks weren’t designated when created or subsequently?
Some more non-designated parks:
Andy Livingstone Park
May & Lorne Brown Park
Helmcken Park
Nelson Park
There are a lot of them. I wonder if the City has published a comprehensive list?