Our Promise to You

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​TEAM supports an independent, properly-funded, elected Park Board that will protect, improve, and expand neighbourhood parks, recreational facilities, and community centres. Clean and safe community spaces are vitally important to our health, well-being, and sense of community in a livable city.

 

How We Will Get There

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TEAM will support an elected Park Board by withdrawing the City's request to change the Vancouver Charter to eliminate the Park Board, and ensuring that it has the required administrative structure and funding to properly manage our parks and recreation system. This includes re-establishing the Park Board's independent planning, operations, and maintenance resources. TEAM will be a strong advocate for protecting and enhancing the Park Board's parks and recreation system by:

 

• Keeping our parks, beaches, and green spaces beautiful, serene, and safe through ecologically-sound management, by expanding and improving maintenance andgarbage pickup, actively enforcing bylaws, and increasing the number of park rangers and lifeguards

• Ensuring access and safety for everyone at all city parks and facilities  - e.g., by restoring pre-COVID access to Stanley Park and Beach Avenue, while also providing new alternative infrastructure for cycling and walking without impeding vehicles

• Assessing and planning for the impact of climate change on Vancouver's parks and recreation system, including our beaches and seawalls

• Minimizing tree removal in Stanley Park through independent  and documented individual tree assessments and risk analysis, and protecting and expanding the tree canopy across the city to provide shade and to support urban wildlife and ecology 

• Advocating and planning for new parks and recreation facilities as our population grows, while striving for a ratio of 1.1 ha of parks per 1000 people, and ensuring the Park Board has the independent planning, operations, equipment, and maintenance resources to do so

• Providing safe park spaces for off-leash dogs that are within walking distance in all neighbourhoods

• Supporting local community centre associations and their roles in the joint operation of community centre facilities

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​The Issues 

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​​The current Mayor Ken Sim and ABC Council majority have made a request to the Province that the Vancouver Charter be amended to eliminate the elected Park Board. TEAM understands the important role played by an independent Park Board and will ensure the preservation of this elected body.

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The elected Park Board serves the important function of protecting and expanding Vancouver's outstanding parks, recreation and community centre system. This unique and important democratic administrative structure was established early in Vancouver's history with the mandate to maintain and protect Stanley Park from development pressure, distinct from the City's mandate to develop the city lands. As more parks were established, these were also added to the Park Board lands. This distinction is as valid today as it was in the past. 

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Over the past decade, under the influence of City Council, staff and special interests, the Park Board has made a series of irresponsible decisions that have adversely affected the health and usability of our internationally known parks and recreation system. Some of these actions have contributed to a weakening of the Park Board's ability to carry out its mandate and prohibited the public's access to the parks and recreation system.

 

​TEAM Perspective & Action Plan

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​TEAM will retain an elected Park Board and will take care of Vancouver’s cherished parks. A TEAM majority on City Council and Park Board will have dedicated Commissioners listening to and serving the people of Vancouver to ensure our parks and recreation system remains at the core of our livable City. 

 

​Action Items

1. Withdraw the City's request to the Province to change the Vancouver Charter to eliminate the elected Park Board;

2. Keep Park Board assets publicly owned and operated;

3. Restore Park Board authority over its operations and facilities by transferring finance, operations and facilities back under Park Board jurisdiction from the City’s planning, real estate and facilities departments, while ensuring finances are well managed with line-by-line budget analysis and oversight;

4. Advocate for secure, ongoing funding for the Park Board as a specified portion of the City of Vancouver tax base; 

5. Stop the politicization of park management with policies and goals beyond the Park Board’s core mandate of maintaining and enhancing parks and recreation for the use of all Vancouverites;

6. The primary purpose of Vancouver parks is to preserve natural areas and improve quality of life for Vancouver residents by providing green spaces and recreational opportunities, not for these public lands to be used as revenue streams such as the selling of park naming rights;

7. Create balanced policies and solutions that serve the needs of Vancouver citizens as required by the Vancouver Charter, rather than serving third party interests or potential privatization;

8. Protect and expand the parks and recreation system for current and future generations to serve projected growth that is consistent with previous City/Park Board policies of providing a ratio of 1.1 hectares of parks per 1000 people;

9. Designate existing Temporary and de-facto Parks as Permanent Parks to ensure their protection;

10. Protect Stanley Park by halting the current logging operations until a full scientific review and independent risk assessments are conducted, ensuring that written records are retained - including documented tree inspections with consideration for ecological, wildlife and recreational values, ensuring that only the trees deemed imminently dangerous by a provincially certified tree risk assessor being felled;

11. City acknowledgement that the Park Board commissioners have exclusive authority over the maintenance and management of Stanley Park, consistent with the Vancouver Charter;

12. Ensure that there will be public engagement and multiple expert opinions are considered before major projects are undertaken in Vancouver parks;

13. Give preference to utilizing in-house employees rather than outside contractors in parks projects, and follow all WorkSafe BC guidelines to protect workers;

14. Add more green spaces, recreational facilities and parks to address both the increasing density and existing park and amenity deficiencies, especially on the east side of the city which has been historically underserved; 

15. Keep parks green by working with Engineering to improve bike access to our parks and beaches without paving over existing lawns and gardens;

16. Improve public green space management by prioritizing maintenance of gardens, cutting lawns, and keeping them clean and safe for the;

17. Facilitate gardens and urban farming in public and private spaces to support community resiliency and food security;

18. Enforce maintenance bylaws on vacant  or under construction private property and boulevards to ensure lawn trimming and litter pick-up ;  

19. Increase planting and maintenance of the urban forest on City owned lands, including street boulevards and plant new trees to support a healthy tree canopy;

20. Improved street tree management to protect existing mature trees and add new trees where currently underserved, with the goal that all city boulevards have a healthy tree coverage;

21. Retain, protect, and upgrade heritage facilities within the parks and recreation system;

22. Resolve in collaboration with the public and various user groups the accessibility issues in Stanley Park and ensure the Park and its facilities (Aquarium, restaurants, horse-drawn carriages, etc.) are accessible to all citizens, including cyclists;

23. Ensure access and safety across parks and facilities, including for the elderly, for the disabled and for families who need convenient vehicle access - such as restoring pre-COVID access to Stanley Park and Beach Avenue - while also allowing new alternative infrastructure for cycling and walking without impeding vehicles;

24. Assess and plan for the impact of climate change on Vancouver's parks and recreation system, including our beaches and seawalls, and protecting and expanding the tree canopy across the city to provide shade and to support urban wildlife and ecology;

25. Increase safety by expanding the park ranger program, keeping lifeguards on beaches, and adding fencing on parks adjacent to busy roads; 

26. Provide safe park spaces for off-leash dogs that are within walking distance in all neighbourhoods;

27. Discourage park encampments to ensure parks are safe and accessible for everyone, while working collaboratively with the City and other levels of government so the parks are not used as a substitute for proper housing and services that people need;

28. Prioritize local neighbourhood community centres, recreation facilities, amenities, pools, and parks, to achieve walkable neighbourhoods with universal access;

29. Avoid further development of regional-serving parks and facilities within the city, with an exception being the replacement of existing citywide special use facilities such as the Vancouver Aquatic Centre;

30. Reconsider the Vancouver Aquatic Centre replacement to include a 50 meter pool as originally approved by voters for the capital plan, including investigating the feasibility of renovating the existing building if that is the only way to keep a 50 meter pool;

31. Provide an integrated swimming/lifeguard training program so that all Vancouver children may learn to swim. TEAM is committed to providing this life-safety training in cooperation with qualified agencies, and to provide more easily accessible community based pools, with cooperation between community centres and schools to target early learning for young children;

32. Support local Community Centre Associations (CCAs) and their roles in the joint operation of community centre facilities, and ensure the approval of the upcoming renewal of Joint Operating Agreements with all CCAs in 2027 and beyond; 

33. Encourage collaboration with schools and libraries for use of facilities for community centre programs;

34. Withdraw Park Board support for the City-initiated policy of imposing housing over new community centres since the overhead airspace may be needed for future expansion of facilities to serve growth rather than sprawling over green space or having to buy new land for future amenities;

35. Plan for community centre maintenance, upgrades, renovation and expansions that save money in the long term rather than deferring maintenance leading to expensive replacements; and

36. Ensure the annual and long-term budgets for operations and the capital plan have established funding for all existing community centres on an ongoing basis.