Park Board approves Alcohol on Beaches re-pilot program for Summer 2024 in Vancouver

The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation has approved its Alcohol on Beaches re-pilot program on Monday evening, to allow people to drink alcoholic beverages legally at some local beaches.

People can consume alcohol at seven beaches — Jericho Beach, John Hendry Beach, Kitsilano Beach, Locarno Beach, New Brighton, Spanish Banks, and Stanley Park Second Beach. These are the same seven beaches in the initial program run in 2023.

This proposed re-pilot program will run between June 1 to September 30 of this year.

“The proposed Alcohol on Beaches (AOB) Re-pilot Program responds to a growing interest by the public to consume alcohol on Vancouver’s beaches safely and without recrimination,” the motion reads.

The motion suggests there was an increase in operational and enforcement issues and challenges for those beach pilot sites in 2023.

Park Board says another pilot is required to better assess the permanency of alcohol consumption in public areas.

“Given the complexity and multi-department impacts, it has been determined that another year is required to test these measures to determine the level of success and inform future decision-making,” the motion said.

Last year, Park Board Commissioner Tom Digby voted in favour of the pilot and pointed to the success of the project implemented in parks, however this year, he was the only commissioner on the board to vote against the re-pilot.

Digby says he wants to caution everyone that the 2023 report was “very precarious.”

“We would like to think that Vancouver is ready for it, and it’s able to handle it, and a simple glass of wine on the beach shouldn’t be a problem, but it comes with what we’re being asked for here is police surveillance,” he said.

“I think that this is bound for real trouble again this year.”

Based on the findings from last year, people said there was an increase in overcrowding, smoking activity, a lot of litter on beaches, noise and disruptive behaviour and broken glass on the beach.

Digby says because of the negative findings from last year, and not having control over the policing budget he does not want to endorse this re-pilot program.

Commissioner Scott Jensen on the other hand, said it’s not fair to punish a large chunk of the population based on the “immature actions” of a portion of the population.

“We will be able to have people showcase that they can be responsible with better signage, more bins, and an understanding that if they can’t manage it, maybe next year the reports aren’t going to support it,” he said.

Last year’s findings showed that the benefits of allowing alcohol on beaches meant an affordable option to socialize at beaches without having to make reservations, people enjoyed not being surveilled by law enforcement and felt safer consuming alcohol in visible spaces among others.

Commissioner Brennan Bastyovanszky mentions that safety is at the forefront of the motion and acknowledges that with alcohol there could be some negative implications.

“Risk is when drinking near bodies of water, increased risk of drowning. The amount of broken glass on sand can make it unusable, incredibly dangerous for everyone,” he said.

However, he says most of the people on the beaches have been able to drink responsibly.

“I would hate for a few bad apples to spoil the fun for everyone else. So I will be supporting this,” Commissioner Brennan Bastyovanszky said.

The motion was passed with four commissioners for, and only Commissioner Tom Digby against.