Burnaby City Council approves a drinking in parks program for this summer
At a meeting on Monday, May 8, the Burnaby City Council officially approved a “responsible alcohol consumption in Burnaby parks” program.
A report shared prior to the meetingĀ outlined the council’s intent to pass such a pilot program, which already exists in Vancouver, New Westminster, Delta, North Vancouver, and Port Coquitlam.
Councillors unanimously voted to approve staff to develop a pilot program for the responsible drinking of alcohol in parks.
This means that the Parks, Recreation and Culture Commission of Burnaby is now tasked with creating a bylaw for the program. This will be brought back to the council in June.
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Considerations for such a public drinking program include some additional financial obligations, including updating park signage, adding waste bins, and ongoing management costs, such as signage repairs and bylaw patrols.
Staff will also need to select parks based on their proximity to public transit and whether or not they offer public restrooms.
After this next step is brought back to the council in June, it will need to be approved, but Burnaby residents may be able to responsibly drink alcohol in their city’s parks as early as that same month.