Chinatown green space eyed for Vancouver's permanent park status this fall | Daily Hive

City of Vancouver looking to designate Chinatown green space as a permanent park this fall

Site of the possible permanent public park at 722 Gore Ave., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

At the northeast corner of the intersection of Gore Street and Union Street, on the southeastern edge of Vancouver’s historic Chinatown district, there is a triangular-shaped parcel of land with a grassy surface and trees.

While it appears to be a public park space, it is not formally designated as one. Instead, it is a decades-old road reserve owned by the City of Vancouver’s engineering department.

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The size of the site at 722 Gore Ave. is not insignificant, spanning about 31,000 sq. ft., or just under one acre.

For that reason, in 2024, the parcel was identified as excess land and briefly considered as the location for a temporary fire hall to provide much-needed additional response capacity for Vancouver Fire Rescue Services amid the overwhelming number of overdose-related calls stemming from issues centred in the Downtown Eastside. The facility was intended to help reduce the immense strain on Fire Hall No. 2, located in the Downtown Eastside.

However, the temporary fire hall proposal for this particular location was met with significant opposition from local residents, who objected to the loss of the informal green space and the impacts associated with the frequent movement of fire hall vehicles responding to calls.

722 gore avenue vancouver chinatown park

Site of the possible permanent public park at 722 Gore Ave., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

722 gore avenue vancouver chinatown temporary fire hall

Site of 722 Gore Ave., Vancouver. (TKA+D Architecture & Design/Google Maps)

Site of the possible permanent public park at 722 Gore Ave., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Years earlier, the area also lost another large informal open green space — similarly unprotected and lacking official park designation — located just across the street at the easternnmost end of the Dunsmuir and Georgia viaducts. That site was redeveloped for the Nora Hendrix Place temporary modular housing building. There are also long-term plans to redevelop the entire green space and viaduct block as part of a new mixed-use Hogan’s Alley development, as a part of the City’s Northeast False Creek Plan.

As a result of the opposition, City staff withdrew their proposal for the Chinatown site and instead pursued another location at 1756 East Hastings St., where the development permit application was approved in November 2024. The temporary fire hall, designated Fire Hall No. 11, opened in Spring 2025.

And now, following Vancouver City Council’s October 2024 direction through a member motion, City staff are preparing to begin the process of providing the informal green space at the edge of Chinatown with permanent park designation.

According to City staff, the process for designating City land as a permanent park typically begins with a resolution from City Council. Before making a recommendation, City staff conduct an intradepartmental review to determine whether the site is suitable for permanent park designation.

In this case, following the member motion, City staff will now begin an intradepartmental review of the property. If the review supports the designation, City staff plan to bring the property forward to City Council in Fall 2026 to both raise title and seek formal permanent park designation.

This green space is also located just north of the future emergency department entrance of the new St. Paul’s Hospital, opening in Spring 2027.

Over the decades, there has been an effort to increase the number of “permanent” designation parks, but as this is a time-consuming legal process involving multiple City departments, the pace has been slow.

Under existing policies, a permanent park designation can only be removed if City Council and the Vancouver Park Board each pass a resolution with at least a 66 per cent approval of all elected members. “Temporary” public parks can only be designated by City Council, and a 66 per cent approval vote is required by City Council if this particular status is to be removed. Some of these parks are “temporary” because they are located on crown lands.

However, the Chinatown green space site does not even have the lower-tier designation of a temporary public park.

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