Board to tweak bylaw that would allow booze in parks

Pilot project should expand to include all neighbourhoods, commissioner says

A Vancouver park board pilot project that would have allowed liquor consumption in some city parks has been sent back to staff for further revisions.

The proposed bylaw put before the park board Monday night would have allowed park goers to consume alcohol between the hours of 11 a.m. and 9 p.m. in designated areas at 10 different parks spread out across the city.

“The discussion around allowing alcohol consumption in parks has become more timely in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the physical distancing required in response,” the Vancouver park board staff report said.

“The pandemic has limited the ability of Vancouverites to socialize with their friends and family, however as restrictions in B.C. ease public health officials advise that socializing outdoors at safe distances reduces risk of virus transmission.”

The 10 parks recommended by staff were: Fraser River Park; John Hendry Park (Trout Lake); Harbour Green Park; Locarno Beach Park; Memorial South Park; New Brighton Park; Queen Elizabeth Park; Quilchena Park; Stanley Park; and Vanier Park.

While the majority of the park board seemed receptive to the basic premise of the bylaw, a number of commissioners expressed concern that several areas of the city, including the densely populated Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, were not represented in the plan.

So instead of voting on the bylaw, the park board unanimously approved a motion from commissioner Dave Demers to refer the report back to staff with a recommendation that it consider including at least one park from each of Vancouver’s 23 distinct neighbourhoods.

“I always thought the core idea of this project was to incentivize people to use their own local park as their own backyard. If we ask them to move to another neighbourhood for this, this has to be a bit counterintuitive to this core idea,” said Demers. “Especially in a time of pandemic we should encourage folks to stick close to home and we should discourage them from gathering up in one of those 10 specific areas.”

His motion also called on staff to add an amendment to the bylaw that liquor could be consumed in parks only if it was part of a meal.

“(Requiring meals) is a way of doubling down on the idea that we’re doing this for daytime picnics with family and a few friends, and we’re not doing this for the late-night party crowd,” said Demers, who also noted the meal requirement would provide both park rangers and the police with more enforcement capability.

Staff is scheduled to present a revised report at the next meeting of the park board on July 20.