Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Let’s plug development loophole, Vancouver parks board decides

By Frank Luba, The ProvinceOctober 16, 2012 12:49 PM
 Vancouver parks board wants to protect its city greenspaces in perpetuity. “All of us, including the commissioners around the table, had this assumption that once a park, always a park,” Aaron Jasper, board vice-chairman, said Tuesday. “It’s been a bit of an eye-opener for us.” At the moment, a decision by two-thirds of both Vancouver council and the park board could remove land from parks. The board passed a motion Monday to investigate how to protect its parks. The motion, by Commissioner John Coupar, directs staff “to investigate and identify strategies which we would be able to use to protect parks,” Jasper said. He expects a report back from staff within six months, outlining ways to protect parks while still allowing for necessary changes like rights-of-way, engineering or land swaps. There will also be public consultation.

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