The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation has approved an expansion of its pilot program allowing people to drink alcohol in 22 participating parks.
The changes green-lit Monday night give visitors more space to enjoy their drinks, opening up most of the park to responsible consumption, rather than restricting it to smaller, mapped-out zones.
Despite the fact that these zones were marked by the municipality last year, a report prepared for the board said public feedback revealed they were “challenging to identify.”
For the most part, drinking will now be permitted anywhere within the park boundary, except in places where it is considered “not appropriate,” such as within 20 metres of a playground or school.
Other restrictions include drinking within five metres of a pool or water park; drinking on or at a beach, pond, lake or dock; and drinking on the seawall, a roadway, or in a parking lot or building entrance area. Garden areas, sports fields, courts, skate parks, fitness areas and golf courses are also out of bounds, as are community centres, field houses, washrooms, and off-leash dog areas.
The designated areas change passed unanimously on Monday night, even though some who attended the meeting voiced concerns about the expansion.
“If this passes, it’s going to get out control, just as Granville Street has gone out of control,” said resident Leona Brown.
City staff reviewed data from the 2021 pilot program and presented feedback to the Vancouver Park Board last December. In that report, neither the Vancouver Police Department nor Vancouver Coastal Health reported a significant or notable increase in alcohol-related incidents during the pilot.
Some concerns were lodged in public surveys about the possibility of increased littering, and city staff later identified recycling and waste management as an opportunity for improvement next time around.
The same 22 parks as last year will be part of the pilot in 2022, which begins on June 3 and runs until mid-October. A list of parks is available on the Vancouver Park Board’s website.
— With files from Jasmine Bala
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