Vancouver City Council

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: August 11, 2003
Author/Local: P. Scheer/

604-873-7692

RTS No.: 3578

CC. File No.: 4150/4151

Meeting Date: August 13, 2003

TO: Standing Committee on Planning and Environment

FROM: General Manager of the Park Board and the City Manager in consultation with the Director of Legal Services

RE: Portside Park

CONSIDERATION

THAT, pursuant to section 488(3) of the Vancouver Charter, the Park Board shall have the custody, care and management of the lands held by the City under a lease dated as of September 1, 1986 between the Vancouver Port Corporation and the City of Vancouver which lands are commonly known as Portside Park (the "Park") to the extent of making rules and by-laws for the control, regulation, protection and government of the Park and of persons in the Park, and enforcing the provisions of the Parks Control By-law in relation to the Park and, for that purpose, the Park Board is authorized to commence legal actions or proceedings, including actions or proceedings seeking injunctive relief, to prevent or restrain an offence, or the continuance of an offence, under the Parks Control By-law.

CITY MANAGER'S AND GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

The City Manager and General Manager of the Park Board put this Report forward for consideration.

COUNCIL POLICY

Under the Vancouver Charter, the Park Board is empowered to enact and enforce by-laws for the control, regulation, protection and government of parks in Vancouver. Under the Parks Control By-law, the erection of tents, shelters, or other structures is prohibited without the permission of the General Manager of the Park Board.

PURPOSE

This report puts forward, for the consideration of Council, a resolution giving the Park Board the management of Portside Park, including the power to enforce the provision of the Parks Control By-law prohibiting the erection of tents and other shelters or structures in Portside Park.

BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION

On July 2, 2003 a number of individuals set up tents and other structures in Victory Square Park. Over the next several weeks, the encampment in Victory Square grew to approximately fifty tents. The presence of the tents prevented commencement of previously scheduled renovation work in the Park, work that was planned to be completed prior to the Remembrance Day ceremony on November 11.

In response, the Park Board commenced a legal action to obtain an injunction to enforce the Parks Control By-law. The legal action was commenced on July 24, 2003; however, before the application for an injunction was heard by the Court, the individuals who had erected the tents removed them and left Victory Square Park.

Some of the individuals who left Victory Square moved to Thornton Park and erected tents there. Others joined another group which had left the Victory Square Park earlier and began to set up tents in Portside Park on July 18 or 19, 2003.

At the present time there are over thirty tents or other structures in Thornton Park and approximately fifty tents or other structures in Portside Park. As a result of the encampment at Portside Park, a day camp program for children aged 6 to 12 based out of the Ray-Cam Community Centre which was already underway in Portside Park had to be relocated to two other parks. Those parks do not have any waterfront access or the same facilities as Portside Park, and the relocation of the Ray-Cam day camp has put an additional burden on other children's programs in those two parks.

The Park Board has commenced an action to seek an injunction to enforce the Parks Control By-law with respect to Thornton Park. In reviewing the history of Portside Park it was discovered that, although the Park Board has managed Portside Park for over ten years, Council never formally passed a resolution giving the Park Board this authority. The resolution that is before Council for its consideration formally gives the Park Board the authority to manage Portside Park, including the power to enforce the Parks Control By-law in relation to the Park by seeking injunctive relief, if the Park Board chooses to do so.

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