Here's where alcohol will be permitted in Vancouver parks this summer

Those visiting Vancouver's parks will be permitted to consume alcohol in select green spaces again this year as the city's park board unanimously approved another pilot project Monday night.

Like last year's program, the 2022 plan permits drinking in 22 parks as early as June until October.

This time, however, the city is changing the signage in the parks by identifying where drinking is not permitted, rather than selecting small spaces where it is. That means some parks will have significantly larger alcohol-permitted areas.

Drinking will not be allowed within 20 metres of a playground or school area, or within five metres of a pool or water park. Places where consumption won't be permitted also include pools, parking lots, docks, sports fields, washrooms, pitch-and-putt courses and off-leash dog areas.

Vancouver Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung said the permanent approval of drinking in parks "is taking a long time."

"I think this has been going on for most of the term of the Vancouver Park Board," she told CTV News Vancouver.

"In this time we almost could have built a community centre. If you think about the fact that this is taking a number of years and other cities seem to be moving forward with it pretty easily and much more quickly than Vancouver and I think it's time."

• MAP: Drinking is permitted in these Metro Vancouver green spaces 

Commissioner Camil Dumont argued during Monday night's meeting that the park board has "to get this right."

"I think there's decades of prohibition of alcohol in parks and if it takes a few years to get it done properly in a way that's equitable and fair and hopefully focuses on harm reduction and least amount of negative impact possible then that's OK," he said.

The park board has been considering this issue since December 2018, when staff was first asked to conduct a feasibility study for a pilot. An initial proposal was brought forward in July of 2020, as people were being encouraged to gather outdoors and at a distance in order to prevent the spread of COVID 19. That proposal was rejected because it only designated 10 sites.

Staff was sent back to the drawing board to come up with another plan that included parks in each neighbourhood. The list of 22 parks was finalized last year. 

As the 2022 program is just another pilot, the matter will need to go before the park board again with a full report before it's made permanent.

These are the updated alcohol-permitted areas for 2022: