The Vancouver Park Board is asking for a massive investment from the City of Vancouver to meet the demands of a growing population.
The 2027 to 2030 Capital Plan, submitted by Commissioner Brennan Bastyovanszky, states that Vancouver is expected to reach almost one million residents by 2050, putting even more demand on parks, recreation facilities, sports fields and public spaces.
The plan asks for a “historic investment in parks and recreation” of $1.35 billion.
According to the Park Board, the Office of the Auditor General audit of Recreation Facility Asset Management recognized that 72 per cent of recreation facilities are in poor or very poor condition.
This Capital Plan is a critical opportunity to address “longstanding infrastructure renewal needs, implement adopted Park Board strategies, and invest in the next generation of parks and recreation facilities for Vancouver,” according to the motion.
The $1.35 billion would include: $300 million to prioritize investments in seawall and waterfront repairs, stump removal, planting new trees and pruning street trees around the city, developing new parks, including Burrard Slopes and East Park Phase II, renewing parks, including John Hendry, Strathcona, Columbia, Delamont and others, acquiring new park land, replacing concrete pools with spray parks and updating playgrounds, courts, lacrosse boxes, updating turf and maintaining new competition facilities at Killarney Park and Kerrisdale/Pt. Grey Secondary, making new off-leash dog areas, repairing bike lanes and building and maintaining washroom facilities.
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The Park Board also wants to commit $50 for biodiversity restoration opportunities in areas such as Lost Lagoon, Beaver Lake, Musqueam Park Forest and others.
It also wants to allocate $200 million for aquatic facilities, including the replacement of the Kitsilano Pool, planning for a new 50-metre pool and community pools and spending $200 million on the renewal of community centres, including Hastings, Kensington and Renfrew, and maintenance at all others.
No one from the Vancouver Park Board would comment on the proposal on Monday.
“Park Board staff are not in a position to comment on a Commissioner’s motion in advance of the Special Meeting or before it has been formally introduced and considered by the Board,” a spokesperson said in an email.
Last October, the B.C. government tabled legislation to dissolve the Vancouver Park Board, saying it came in response to a request from the City of Vancouver. The government also said the city requested that permanent parkland being transferred to First Nations be exempt from the assent vote.
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However, in a statement, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said neither he nor the city council has ever formally requested that any provincial changes be exempt from the referendum for any parkland transfers to First Nations and he would like that detail removed from the legislation.
The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation was established in 1889 as an independent statutory body to oversee and manage parks in Vancouver.
In December 2023, Vancouver city council passed a resolution to ask the province to dissolve the park board and transfer all the board’s powers, assets and obligations to the council.
Abolishing the park board has proven controversial.
Sim campaigned on keeping and fixing the elected body in the 2022 municipal election, but months later, he reversed course, saying it was too broken to repair.
Sim argued that cutting the body would eliminate red tape and redundancies, while saving the city about $7 million a year.
The special meeting of the Park Board is scheduled for April 7 and then a draft plan is set to be delivered to commissioners in June.
The public will have a further opportunity to speak to the 2027-2030 Capital Plan when the Park Board votes on the final version in early July. The public may also speak when the council votes on the full plan at the end of July.
Vancouver voters will then vote to approve or reject the required borrowing authorities in October as part of the 2026 municipal election.
My friends at the Vancouver Parks Board are making decisions based on what will benefit the future generations of Vancouverites. People like Doug Brekfaust are not the future of Vancouver they’re the past. The past is irrelevant just like his opinion
Doug Brekfaust – I feel sorry for your kids. I couldn’t imagine having to grow up with a POS father figure like you. The guy that made the “Long live the settlers” fb page 🤣🤣 Just remember buddy I’m not here to debate with you. I’m here to call you out for being a f**king clown because that’s exactly what you are 🤡🤡
JV – There’s a whole entire generation of younger Vancouverites???? Bahaha.
You mean like my kids,
all UBC and SFU and all their friends saying hey sorry about all this bad stuff in past but what about me my future? Go back to sleep JV.
You think all these Asian, Persian, Punjabi, and Sihk kids are saying hey, sure give my future and inheritance away to the FN and homeless. 😂
Proof??? Just look at who voted where in Richmond and Surrey!!
400 votes short!
LOL
Lol. You crack me up.
If the people of Vancouver didn’t want Ken Sims and his policy then why did so many vote for him in one of the biggest landslides in VCC history! Ya dumb F! You are the delusional one ya BD! . Same goes for that idiot Rustad. He only lost by 400 votes! Only 400!! 950,000 voted for that far right loon. Half the voters!
Why is Eby Indian giving DRIPA? The vast majority of voters want that! So put your crack pipe down JV.
FYI I’ve at least 35 to 45 years left and still have a kid in WV high school.
Just cuz most of us are not some DTES or WestEnd virtue seeing renter doesn’t mean squat.
Remember!!! What was voted in can he voted out!
Eby had suspend DRIPA because his own party wouldn’t vote for the amendment and it would have forced a no confidence early election. Read the situation JV.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it 🤣 Man what’s up with old white people being the biggest losers in our society? Oh well they’ll all be gone in 20-30 years and Vancouver will finally be able to reach it’s full potential. No more crusty old gatekeepers trying to tell everyone what to do because they think they know what’s best for Vancouverites
Doug Brekfaust – Out of touch with what taxpayers want? Give me a break. Again you’re extremely out of touch with what people who actually live in Vancouver want. Everyone pays taxes in Vancouver you idiot. Thinking that you pay more taxes than others because of where you live is more delusional nonsense… and thinking that you have more of a say than others because you pay more taxes on certain properties is also delusional. Again you’re on here flexing about how much you own hahaha nobody cares buddy. Lots of people own multiple properties in Vancouver it doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean you get to make decisions on anything. Yeah sure go and try to vote out whoever you want it doesn’t matter. Look how well that’s going for you hey buddy. On the internet constantly whining and crying because you’re not getting what you want. There’s a whole entire generation of younger Vancouverites like me that are constantly voting to keep crusty old losers like you from making the decisions in this city and it’s working quite well. In other words enjoy even more bike lanes and whatever homeless facilities you’re crying about. Again keep your crusty old white trash ass on the other side of the bridge where you belong
JV I own few apartments in the West End so I pay tax and therefore I have a say. Stick that in your pipe.
I also regularly road bike thru Stanley Park on the park drive and that bike lane there was a climate virtue signalling disaster and a massive eye sore. 40,000 signed a petition against it, but only 24 cycle advocates showed up to protest its removal. 24!!! LOL
Plus you need to read more carefully before you get so triggered and reply. I said junkies taking over “”city parks””. You know Crab,Oppenheimer, and Strahcona.
People voted for Ken Sims. He won in by a landslide. By some of biggest margins ever. Ever.
So who here is really out of touch with what the taxpayers want.
You’ll see in the next municipal and provincial elections .
What is voted in can be voted out.
Vancouver Park Board asks for ‘historic’ $1.35 billion investment from THE TAXPAYERS. THAT’S WHAT YOU MEANT TO SAY . KEEP IT REAL
Doug Brekfaust – Oh big surprise you have an issue with bike lanes and you think Stanley Park has been taken over by junkies. Seriously buddy you couldn’t be more of a whiny Conservative Karen. You’re so delusional and out of touch with the people who actually live in Vancouver. Stay on your side of the bridge jackass. You’re not welcome over here
“calls the result of ’15 years of neglect”
When your too busy virtue signalling with bikes lanes in Stanely Park, not cutting grassy areas to save the bees, allowing homeless and junkies to take over city parks, setting up needle sites and various other altruistic nonsense, all while completely ignoring basic care and maintenance of the parks and facilities and the needs of the actual taxpayers, you end up with a bill twice the size of the cost had it been done properly and regularly in the first place.
That 50 bucks should go a long way towards biodiversity.
Ken Sim isn’t here for the people of Vancouver he’s here for profits. He doesn’t care about Stanley Park and he definitely doesn’t care about recreation facilities, sports fields and public spaces. If it doesn’t involve Chinese real estate investors then Ken Sim wants nothing to do with it
Don’t the Musqueam Band own Vancouver now? Maybe best to ask the 1,435 members of the tribe for a handout.
They should be fighting any transfer of public parklands to natives. Any such movement should require a referendum. And we all know how that will go. – it is public land and the public should say what happens to it.
Billion….you guys are crooks
Vancouver is a joke lol
More pocket lining to come.
Willow – I bet you don’t even live in Vancouver
All governments are letting things rot and deteriorate because they won’t spend the money on Canadians but will hand over billions to help other countries. If this keeps up we won’t have any parks or beaches safe enough to enjoy, not to mention the economy and people living on the streets