Park fencing won’t keep crime away

The Okanagan Weekend

The city’s expansion of a waterfront park in the Lower Mission will make it more attractive and safer, council is to hear Monday.

Plans for Sarsons Beach Park include a bigger beach, more irrigated lawn and additional parking.

But some nearby residents also want the city to include a chainlink fence and metal gate. The structures, they believe, would help keep out late-night troublemakers.

In response, city officials say it is a common practice to avoid fences that obscure views of Okanagan Lake at other municipally owned parks.

Generally, the city wants such parks to be as open and welcoming as possible, and fences and gates detract from that objective, council will hear.

“Our park designs try to avoid our parks appearing as fenced compounds,” planner Melanie Steppuhn writes in a report to council.

“Opening up valuable views of the lake at different parks across the city without being obscured by fencing is part of that celebration of our parks.”

While some residents may believe a big fence and gate promotes park security, Steppuhn suggests the opposite is more likely to be true.

“A chainlink fence across a park frontage unfortunately provides a false sense of security. While it prevents the majority of law-abiding residents from entering, it actually creates very little obstacle for someone (intent) on entering the park to either party or break-and-enter a property,” she says.

“Once in, the fence provides greater confidence as they know they will be left undisturbed,” she says.

As with other parks, Sarsons Beach is patrolled regularly by bylaw staff during the day and a city-contracted firm during the night.

At Monday’s meeting, council is being asked whether to authorize the kind of fencing and gated entry for Sarson’s Beach Park that some nearby residents favour. The additional cost to park development to do so would be about $63,000.