WHEREAS local municipalities have a significant amount of parkland in established neighbourhoods; AND WHEREAS local municipalities have insufficient capital funding to upgrade andor maintain current parkland; AND WHEREAS re-densification is taking place in older neighbourhoods, where new parks are not required; AND WHEREAS the legislation requires that 5 parkland acquisition fees are to be used only to acquire new parkland; AND WHEREAS municipalities should be given the option to utilize the 5 parkland acquisition fees to upgrade andor maintain current parkland: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the UBCM request the Province of British Columbia amend Section 941 of the Local Government Act to allow greater flexibility to municipalities with respect to how the 5 parkland acquisition fees are to be spent.
Ministry of Community, Sport Cultural Development Funds in lieu of parkland dedication are specifically for the acquisition of parkland only. This is to support a policy goal that up to 5 of all new development area is devoted to urban green space, which is critical to maintaining liveable and sustainable communities. If some of this money is diverted to improvements for existing parks, there would be less money for parkland acquisition thus, defeating the purpose of the policy. The Province fully understands that there is more to a park than land. A park must be developed for public use and enjoyment trails, playgrounds, picnic tables, playing fields, and convenient parking. However, that is not the purpose of the parkland acquisition fund. The parkland acquisition provisions are designed to ensure that this green space is available for public use. Maintaining and upgrading these facilities beyond basic improvements provides a benefit to the wider community, and thus the cost of such improvements should be shared by all property owners. Widening the scope of section 941 has been reviewed in the past by the Development Finance Review Committee DFRC, which is chaired by the Ministry and includes representatives from local government, the Province, and the development community. Local governments have other revenue tools to finance improvements to the parks and as such, there was consensus that expanding the parkland dedication provisions to a wider range of services would not be pursued.