Every week, we'll send you an update on what happened at City Hall, School Board, and Park Board in the last seven days. Hear directly from OneCity Councillor Lucy Maloney, OneCity School Board Trustee Jennifer Reddy, and OneCity Park Board Candidates on the goings on in City government.
Park Board Update:
At its last meeting on July 27, 2026, the Vancouver Park Board approved the Affiliation Policy, which prioritizes access to aquatics, arena, and outdoor sport facilities for user groups based on public benefit, safety, equity, and inclusion. This replaces the Ice Allocation Policy (2003) and historical allocation approaches in aquatics and outdoor
sport facilities, which determined priority based on historical use. In other words, those sports groups who started earlier have generally had the first choice. Now permits issued for recreation facilities are to be consistently, and equitably distributed among user groups.
All of your OneCity candidates for Park Board have noted in earlier 2026 Capital Budget presentations that funds for the urban forest renewal have been reduced. At this last meeting before the election, the Park Board unanimously approved a contract with Lee's Trees Ltd., to be funded through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) ‘Growing Canada’s Community Canopies (GCCC)' grant and matched by the City’s Housing Accelerator Funding. This project will plant 3000 new street trees focusing on five low canopy Vancouver neighbourhoods, especially: Strathcona, Grandview Woodland, and Hastings Sunrise.
This increased funding for renewing and planting trees should go some distance in replacing Vancouver’s dwindling tree canopy. The tension is around care of the young sapling trees, if they are not watered during our increasing droughts, then they may not survive. Your OneCity candidates for Park Board will continue to advocate for both
accelerated street tree planting and funding for care of the new trees.
I have heard through a reliable source that bus stops for the weekend-only around Stanley Park bus route are being set up. I presented to TransLink 6 years ago asking for a 'round the Stanley Park bus. This bus is set to be introduced as a seasonal weekend only perimeter route. Hats off to the TransLink planners who have brought this forward. In addition to being a great way to see the park, it will also take pressure off people driving through Stanley Park repeatedly looking for parking.
This initiative also matches well with the September 2025 decision by the Park Board to reestablish the Park Drive bike lane as a permanent feature. Last September the Park Board made a decision to return the bike lane from the bottom of Prospect Point hill, but so far there has been no start to the work. If I am back on the Park Board, I'll work to
bring the Park Drive bike lane back.
In solidarity,
John Irwin
OneCity Vancouver Candidate for Park Board
