Vancouver Park Board finishes controversial term by — uncontroversially — approving new parks

A controversial four years for Vancouver's Park Board ended with something everyone around the table could agree upon — more parks are good. 

"It's really nice to see them actually hitting the finish line here," said park board commissioner Camil Dumont after the board unanimously approved funding for three projects across the city.

In their final meeting, the commissioners approved:

• $2.6 million for daylighting a creek through Tatlow and Volunteer parks in Kitsilano.
• $1.6 million for a mid-sized park at Marine Way and East Sawmill Crescent in the River District neighbourhood.
• $2.1 million for the creation of South Kinross Park at Kinross Street and Riverwalk Avenue in the River District neighbourhood.

All of the money had been previously committed to as part of the City of Vancouver's 2019-2022 capital plan. But the approval of the contracts allows for construction to begin early next year.

The daylighting — essentially, restoring it to a more natural condition — of a buried creek through Tatlow and Volunteer was seen as a particular accomplishment, given the years of consultation the park board had conducted with the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations, as the area used to have a salmon-filled stream known as First Creek. 

"There's some pretty cool maps of Vancouver that show all the historic streams and all the spots where waters used to flow around here. Tatlow is a particularly special sight," said Dumont.

"So it was nice again to see the park board working so well with the land-based nations and putting their best foot forward."

Controversies

It was the final meeting for all seven commissioners, who all decided to not seek re-election or were defeated on election night on Oct. 15. 

The board, the only directly elected park board for a major municipality in North America, faced a number of controversies over the past four years, ranging from its management of tent encampments to the removal of the city's famed beach logs, conducting yearly consultations on a temporary bike lane in Stanley Park and taking nearly three years to go from studying the concept of allowing drinking in parks to making it legal. 

Incoming mayor Ken Sim originally promised to lobby the province to try to eliminate the park board. But during the campaign he reversed his decision, and all six members of his ABC Vancouver team who ran for the board were elected. 

Four of them were in attendance on Monday, taking in the atmosphere and talking with outgoing commissioners about their experiences.

"I'm very excited, I'm looking forward to this opportunity, joining my ABC colleagues, and looking forward to doing what we were elected to do," said incoming commissioner Scott Jensen. 

As for Dumont? 

"I don't have any bitterness," he said.

"I think our board did a lot of great work. Some contentious issues, but all told I'm proud of what we accomplished. And frankly, this is the process, so I'm happy to be part of the democratic wheel as it turns and turns."