After a weekend of glorious sunshine and the upcoming shift into "Phase II" of B.C.'s COVID-19 "restart" plan in B.C., Vancouverites hoping to make use of parking at the city's beaches and parks are finding themselves out of luck.
The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation revealed Monday (May 11) they "will not be reopening parking lots at beaches and parks in the coming days as a result of a decrease in public compliance with physical distancing."
With temperatures soaring into the upper 20s and two beautiful sunny days - including the Mother's Day holiday - Vancouver's parks and beaches appeared to many to be too crowded with people.
“This weekend our staff observed larger than normal groups of people at destination beaches, as well as a notable reduction in physical distancing,” said Shauna Wilton, Deputy General Manager of the Vancouver Park Board. “While we echo Dr. Bonnie Henry’s advice to get outside, we need to ensure the public is able to do so safely and we want to remind people to access their neighbourhood spaces and refrain from driving to destination locations.”
One reminder is a "warning" issued by Park Board Rangers, who were busy this weekend enforcing the PHO's two-metre social distancing guidelines.
This weekend alone, Park Board Rangers issued over 1,880 warnings to park and beach-goers who were not in compliance.
Overall, to date over 11,000 warnings for distancing non-compliance have been issued.
Closed since March 23, parking lots at places like Kits Beach, English Bay, and Jericho Beach were slated to be re-opened in mid-May.
"Staff had tentatively planned to reopen the lots this week but will not immediately proceed with that plan," says the park board in an emailed statement.
Despite closed parking lots, hundreds of people managed to make their way to the beaches, as photos of the sunny weekend illustrate - and the Park Board Rangers' warning tally indicates.
