Paid parking now permanent at Vancouver's Spanish Banks, with rate increase

2 week_ago 12

British Columbia

Paid parking is present a imperishable fixture astatine Vancouver's Spanish Banks following a 12-month aviator project, with the hourly rate rising from $1 to $1.50.

Parking complaint volition summation from from $1 per hr to $1.50

Michelle Gomez · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 17, 2025 4:14 PM EDT | Last Updated: 12 hours ago

Two radical are pictured astatine the beach.

Paid parking is present a imperishable fixture astatine Vancouver's Spanish Banks following a 12-month aviator project, with the hourly rate rising from $1 to $1.50.

The question that passed at Monday's Vancouver Park Board gathering besides asked that seasonal pricing beryllium offered successful the off-season, though it remains to beryllium determined what the off-season complaint volition beryllium and erstwhile it volition take effect.

The aviator task faced nationalist backlash erstwhile it was projected past year. A petition asking the committee to reconsider its plan received more than 1,000 signatures.

Spanish Banks, located successful Vancouver's Point Grey neighbourhood, was the past beach in Vancouver to person escaped parking.

The aviator task followed a erstwhile effort by the committee to instrumentality wage parking successful 2018, which was changeable down following public backlash.

WATCH | Beachgoers successful 2024 respond to imaginable wage parking astatine Spanish Banks:

'Better disconnected free': beachgoers respond to imaginable wage parking astatine Spanish Banks

Spanish Banks is the past formation successful Vancouver to person escaped parking — but the Vancouver Park Board whitethorn extremity that. Now, a petition has been launched to effort to support wage parking distant from the fashionable formation successful West Point Grey.

The aviator project, which ran from July 2024 to May 2025, generated astir $168,000 successful revenue, according to a study by metropolis staff.

Jas Virdi was 1 of 2 parkland committee commissioners who voted against the motion.

"This was that 1 past spot successful Vancouver that everyone could enjoy," Virdi said during Monday's meeting.

"It was precise debased barrier, it was a spot for families to travel retired and bask it for free. And there's not overmuch that's escaped for children and our seniors these days."

Commissioner Tom Digby argued that charging for parking volition assistance recoup maintenance costs for the area, including the caller multimillion-dollar task to reconstruct Canyon Creek and costs to maintain dog parks.

"The 90 per cent of the radical successful the metropolis that don't spell to Spanish Banks, I deliberation that they request to cognize that there's a fairness crossed the city," Digby said.

"The radical that spell to Spanish Banks get the payment of a fantastic parkland and 1 of the astir unsocial and stunning off-leash areas successful the world."

The caller complaint volition spell into effect successful the adjacent fewer weeks.