Board backs tougher rules on tents in parks
The Vancouver park board voted unanimously Monday night to toughen up bylaws that govern people sleeping in city parks.
This includes banning people from setting up a tent under a tree, giving park rangers the right to remove a tent if it is regularly unoccupied and outlawing camping in Queen Elizabeth Park and VanDusen Botanical Garden.
Building materials like wood and insulation would also be prohibited and the rights of park rangers to enter tents will be expanded.
All five commissioners that were present voted in favour of the amendments to the Parks Control Bylaw — Temporary Shelter in Place.
Those present were independent commissioners Brennan Bastyovanszky, Scott Jensen and Laura Christensen, ABC Vancouver commissioner Angela Haer and Vancouver Green party's Tom Digby.
Digby noted that it was a tough vote, given all 27 of the registered speakers addressing the bylaw amendments were opposed.
This included two UBC law professors.
Margot Young, who is an associate professor at the UBC faculty of law, said there were several problems with the bylaw amendments, including the removal of tents if not regularly occupied and giving park rangers too much discretion to enter people's tents.
“There are some serious issues about this bylaw standing up in court,” Young said.
Fellow law associate professor Alexandra Flynn said the bylaw changes would reduce the amount of park land that people can shelter in to 16.8 per cent.
Flynn said there had been a lack of procedural fairness that included not consulting with park users.
The staff report recommending the bylaw amendments said they were needed because “when tents and other temporary structures ... accumulate or remain in place for extended periods of time, they can impact public access to park space and amenities and result in a strain on staffing and resources.”
The report recommended changing bylaws to allow only camping tents or collapsible canopies that are a maximum of 10 feet by 10 feet and “capable of being dismantled and moved by one person.”
The report stated the existing bylaw lacked specificity, leading some campers to believe that tiny structures without a foundation and that could be removed on a trailer are allowed.
The amendments are intended to support use by those relying on parks for overnight shelter, set up better hygiene and safety outcomes, and improve relations between park users and operations staff, the report said.
The report comes as about 30 people have begun to return to a designated area of CRAB Park after crews completed a cleanup of the homeless camp late last month.
Crews cleared structures that were defined as “non-compliant,” many of which were made out of wood pallets or metal fencing.
Disputes have erupted between homeless residents and park rangers about which temporary shelters are permitted at the park.
A Metro Vancouver homeless count released last fall reported 4,821 people in the region without a home as of March 2023. Half of them were in Vancouver.