The thousands of new residents expected to move into condo towers in south Marpole may soon be able to enjoy a new park by the Fraser River.
As part of its 2015 to 2018 capital plan, the Vancouver Park Board voted Sept. 29 to set aside $20 million to buy 10 acres of land to expand Fraser River Park at the foot of Cambie Street. City council approved the plan two weeks ago, and it will next be placed on the civic election ballot for Nov. 15. Vancouver voters have nearly always approved parks board capital plans in previous votes.
“I am delighted,” said Claudia Leroye, head of the Marpole Business Association. The city has been committed, in policy, to a continuous green public access along the Fraser River for many decades, she noted. This access came to pass, slowly but surely, since the development of the Fraser River Trail near the TransLink bus depot in the mid-2000s, and now to Richmond Island and the Milltown Marina site, mainly due to community pressure.
TransLink, which owns the land and had planned to use it for a bus facility, said it would not reply to requests for comment before the civic vote.
Green Party Coun. Adriane Carr is also happy with the park announcement.
“The timing was probably decided by parks board as an opportune moment for the election,” she added. “But it’s also linked to capital plan, it was part of the Marpole Community Plan a year ago, and it rises out of many years of activism.”
Retired fisherman Terry Slack has been pushing for a salmon stream and bird habitat in the new park.
“There is a compelling case for using street ends that the city controls to create salmon habitat along the river edge,” said Vision Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson last June. Vision Vancouver park board chairperson Aaron Jasper said while that idea is very appealing, it is too early to tell if it would be feasible.
Longtime Marpole resident Don Larson wants the public to vote for the parks capital plan. “If not, a lot of good things can go downhill in four years.”
He said he first raised the idea of the park to council in July 2011, and believes the Nov. 15 civic election is not the main factor in the parks announcement timing but perhaps a minor one. He hopes the city will build a trail to connect the new park to the old Fraser River Park, and that the salmon streams will be brought to the surface (or “daylighted”). He added there are good fishing opportunities on that shoreline.
Slack says he won’t endorse any party in the election because he wants to see exactly what form the park will take in the new year. Jasper said after the public votes on the capital plan, city real estate staff can start negotiating with TransLink to buy the land. He and four other commissioners are not running for re-election.
“We are proud to have brought this park forward, it’s a good legacy. Perhaps my kids will visit there some day,” he said.
