Critics fear Council’s development mandate would be at odds with new parks responsibilities

 MOTION

 Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim will bring a motion to City Council this Wednesday asking the Province to amend the Vancouver Charter to “remove the requirement for an elected” Park Board and “bestow its powers and authority” to Council.

“The system is broken, and no amount of tweaking will fix it,” Mayor Sim said of the elected Park Board at a press conference on Monday, Dec. 5. Just prior to the mayor’s announcement, most Park Board Commissioners, including those from Sim’s ABC party, were summoned to City Hall where Sim told them of his plans to seek the board’s elimination.

According to a story in the Vancouver Sun, the Commissioners received no notice of what was about to happen. Sim was unapologetic, adding that the move to address the issue of having two elected bodies governing in the city was “long overdue.” Brought under the City’s guidance, he said that decisions will be made “in harmony with the City’s broader perspectives.”

Sim’s move was prompted in part by a Nov. 2023 report from Vancouver’s Auditor General (AG) Mike Macdonell, who found that while the Park Board has strategies to guide the delivery of parks and recreation services, it had not proactively engaged with City Council to align its priorities with available funding. “The Park Board didn’t have a comprehensive understanding of the full cost of delivering services, and indeed the level of service it intended to deliver for all of its service lines,” AG Mike Macdonell told Global News.

The AG report contains six recommendations to enhance the Park Board’s ability to achieve its revenue objectives. The Park Board accepted all the recommendations and has provided action plans in response.

Reacting to the Mayor’s new motion, Riley Park Hillcrest Community Centre Association president Dave Pasin says in a recent letter to Community Centre Association Presidents that Park Board Commissioners have, over the past 137 years, “ensured park land was created and protected from development…” However, Pasin has witnessed a continual deterioration in service and maintenance levels at all facilities and parks due to drastic Park Board budget cuts made by the City of Vancouver.

“Park Board & CCA programs are now in danger of being destroyed by a Mayor and Council who have demonstrated they have little regard for the work of the Park Board, its dedicated employees and the CCA’s. Commissioners Marie-Claire Howard  and Jas Virdi have both signaled their support of the Mayor’s desire to control all of the Park[s] and those who control it. Elected officials would be replaced with political appointments at the behest of the Mayor.”

Mayor Sim’s motion also requests that the Province amend the process for revoking and/or cancelling the designation of areas designated as permanent public parks of the City under the Vancouver Charter, notably under section 488 of the Charter (“Parks in care of Board”), to a unanimous vote of all Council members, along with provisions for a public referendum.

A press release provided by the City includes a list of community leaders who support the motion: Musqueam Chief Wayne Sparrow, Lorraine Lowe of the Dr. Sun Yet Sen Gardens, Mike Burdick, president of the Marpole Community Board of Directors, and several others. (The full list of supporters can be found in the MOTION link above). 

But West Point Grey Community Centre, one of the many public recreation facilities managed by the Park Board, said in a press release that: “If the change to the Vancouver Charter is approved, the City of Vancouver would then assume ownership of all Park Board assets of lands and buildings, including parks, community centres and recreation facilities. These assets would then be under the control of City Council, whose mandate is to manage development, unlike the Park Board’s mandate.”

In a letter to Vancouver City Council dated Dec. 11, the Coalition of Vancouver Neighbourhoods (CVN) questions whether an elected Park Board can be removed mid-term only one year after its election, and says the Park Board should be allowed time to implement the Auditor General’s recommendations. It emphasizes that the public should be given a choice through a referendum before any request is made to the Province.

 Whether you agree with Mayor Sim’s motion asking for an amendment to the Vancouver Charter or not, this is your only chance to have your say about proposed changes to the Park Board. The motion goes to Council on Wednesday, Dec. 13. The Standing Committee on City Finance and Services agenda meeting begins at 9:30 am.

You can write to the City to have your views noted in an amalgamated file that staff sum up to Council, or you can write to each Councillor.

You can sign up to speak to Council in person or remotely if your request is in before 8:00 am, Dec. 13.