Board Meeting Highlights
June 27, 2005

The following information is intended to provide quick highlights of this scheduled Board meeting. Every attempt has been made to summarize these highlights as accurately as possible; however, the complete and official minutes will be posted on the web site on the Monday one week prior to the next scheduled Board meeting.

Meeting Agenda - June 27, 2005

CHAIR'S REPORT

A number of special events have taken place in the last few weeks, including naming dedications for two parks: Rosemary Brown and Sahalli, Stanley Park's Rain or Shine Festival, and the Seniors' Tea Dance and Jazz concerts at the Roundhouse. The Park Board's public web site at vancouverparks.ca has won a national Award of Merit from the Canadian Public Relations Society.

GENERAL MANAGER'S REPORT

Several Park Board-related issues are on City Council and Committee agendas this week - Capital Plan 2006-2008 Draft Allocation, Queen Elizabeth Park Road Dedication and Subdivisions, GVRD's Mosquito Control Administration and Coordination Service By-law, 2004 Year End Review of the PNE, and Supply and Delivery of Four Ice Conditioners for rinks.

STAFF REPORTS

Capital Plan 2006-2008 Draft Allocation
The Board received for information the Draft Allocation of the Capital Plan for 2006-2008, the plan for spending on Park Board infrastructure, buildings and major community support programs for the next three years. The overall plan represents an investment in neighbourhoods and communities, liveability and sustainability. This time there are two envelopes of funding - one for parks and recreation and one for community legacies through the Winter Olympic Games. From a variety of funding sources, the Park Board has been allocated an historic high figure of $80.045 million - divided up for Parks ($16.995 million), Land Acquisition and Development ($6 million), Facilities ($12.150 million), Street Trees ($1 million), Olympic Legacy Facilities ($39.5 million), and Overhead and Project Management ($4.4 million). The Olympic projects, which give a significant opportunity to advance Park Board renewal objectives, include two ice rinks (at Killarney and Trout Lake), one swimming pool (replacing Percy Norman) and resurfacing of Stanley Park and Queen Elizabeth Parks roads. The Draft Plan will be released for further public review and comment prior to a final decision in the early Fall. The electorate will vote on the Capital Plan during the civic election on November 19, 2005.

Strategic Plan 2005-2010
The new Strategic Plan for 2005-2010 represents the collective ideas and vision of the Board and staff, with guidance from Park Board partners, stakeholders and the general public. The plan, which was developed after extensive public consultaton, will be used to guide the organization and inform the business plans of all staff units. Five clear priorities are laid out: Greening the Park Board, Engaging People, Working Together, Managing Resources and Meeting Future Challenges. A new Mission Statement is included: Provide, preserve and advocate for parks and recreation services to benefit people, communities and the environment. and a new slogan: Lively and diverse by nature. The Board endorsed the Strategic Plan, pending inclusion of a number of suggested changes to the wording.

Queen Elizabeth Park Statutory Right-of-Way
The Park Board has a long-standing practice to support dedication of strips of park land or the granting of right-of-ways through parks for transportation and/or infrastructure purposes. In order to rectify the need to register a statutory right-of-way over a small portion of Cambie Street near 31st Avenue, the Park Board supported the momentary revoking of the 'permanent park' status of Queen Elizabeth Park to subdivide the park and dedicate the 0.11 hectare portion for road purposes. As well, the Board supported the registration of five additional right-of-ways in the park to allow for infrastructure requirements associated with the Reservoir and for communications ducts.

MOTION

To address concerns of traffic for those wishing to access the new #1 Kingsway building, Commissioner Poaps put forward a motion that the Park Board request Council to ask City staff to develop a better solution, including a pedestrian crossing at 7th Avenue, as part of the Showcase Project for the intersection of Main and Kingsway that recognizes the importance of #1 Kingsway as an important community facility and provides a higher level of safety, comfort and access to pedestrisn, transit users and cyclists. The Motion carried.

NEXT MEETING

The next regular meeting of the Park Board is at 7:00 pm on Monday, July 11th at 2099 Beach Avenue.

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