Gonzales

Gonzales Beach Park and Pemberton Park have been designated for sheltering unhoused people since the start of the pandemic 5 years ago. On March 13th, 2025 city staff presented to council a report on sheltering in the city's parks, and provided a draft motion to amend the sheltering bylaw, which council passed.

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Background

In Gonzales Beach Park, unhoused people have used tents and other forms of shelter almost every night since early 2020. One individual stayed in the park for over 3 years straight, and many others have stayed for months at a time. The sheltering bylaw requires that persons staying in the park overnight must take down their structures between 7 am and 7 pm every day to allow use of the park by regular park users. However, compliance has been poor, and bylaw officers have often been too busy in other parts of the city to provide effective enforcement.

 

This situation has had considerable impact upon residents who live close to the park or even right on the park’s boundary. Unhoused people are only required to maintain 4 metres of separation to private property, meaning that some residents have been disturbed repeatedly by noise occurring right outside their windows at any hours of the night. These residents have also had unhoused people knocking on their doors and entering their private property at night.

 

Other residents have told us that they no longer use the park the way they used to, either by visiting the park less often or by avoiding early morning and evening visits. Residents have reported open drug use and drug dealing, needles and litter, thefts, threatening behaviour, and sheltering at the washroom as some of the reasons why they no longer feel safe using the park.

 

Pemberton Park has also had regular use for sheltering by unhoused people, who mainly camp near or between the playground and the ball diamond.

 

Of the 12 or so parks originally made available for sheltering in 2020, nine have been closed to sheltering in response to deteriorating conditions and public complaints. Gonzales Beach, Pemberton, and Oaklands have remained available for sheltering despite being affected by the same circumstances that led to the closures of the other nine parks. 

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March 13th Report on Sheltering in Parks

The city council motion to amend the sheltering bylaw arises from a city staff report on sheltering, which can be found here:

Addendum_Report_Sheltering in Parks and Parks Regulation Bylaw Report.pdf

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This report is well worth reading. It has an excellent section that explains the legal background of the issue, including Supreme Court of BC cases that have led to municipal jurisdictions in the province finding themselves compelled to accommodate sheltering in parks under certain conditions. Another section provides a well-supported argument that sheltering is incompatible with other park uses and provides a rationale for why it is important for the city to only allow sheltering at nighttime.

 

The report's key recommendations relevant to Gonzales Neighbourhood are the following:

 

d. increase the distance between playgrounds and locations of temporary overnight shelters from 8 metres to 15 metres, and 

 

e. expressly prohibit sheltering in all parks, except in the limited circumstances as directed by court decisions in [list of 34 parks],

 

Recommendation (e) indicates that the city will be identifying a number of other parks for sheltering, although Gonzales Beach, Pemberton, and Oaklands will still be on this new list. At first glance it may seem that sheltering going forward will be distributed among a larger number of parks, potentially lessening the impact on any one park. However, most of the additional parks identified do not have washrooms. Unless the city provides some form of temporary or permanent washrooms at these other parks, it is likely that parks with permanent washrooms will continue to be first choice for unhoused people seeking places to shelter. 

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Note that on page 36 of the report it is noted that the list of parks as provided in the report (and shown in the column to the right) is not written in stone. Specifically the report states:

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"The specific list of the parks is included in the recommended motion but is ultimately for Council to determine based on Council’s view of how to best balance the need to ensure there is sufficient space within the city to accommodate temporary overnight sheltering by persons experiencing homelessness, and maintaining parks for their intended purpose for the use and enjoyment of the community as a whole;"

 

Recommendation (d) would increase the separation between sheltering structures and playgrounds to 15 metres. This is an improvement but some would argue not enough of an increase. Unfortunately, the recommendation does not provide for a similar increase to the buffer around private homes and park washrooms.

 

The staff report also includes an appendix that provides an estimate of the shelter/tent capacity at each of 55 parks. For Gonzales the tent capacity is given as 11, and for Pemberton it is 39. We are awaiting further information from the city on why this information was needed and how it plans to utilise it. You can view the appendix at the following link:

 

Appendix 18_Park overviews_55.pdf

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Our Concerns

We are disappointed that after 5 years of use of Gonzales Beach and Pemberton Parks for sheltering, the city has not acted to finally close these parks. The city has identified 31 other parks where sheltering may occur, which should provide more than enough sheltering space to satisfy homeless advocacy groups and even provincial courts. However, the vast majority of the newly listed parks do not have washrooms, and the city's report does not appear to recommend that such facilities should be provided. Without providing this basic support to unhoused people it is likely that Gonzales Beach, Pemberton, and Oaklands Parks will continue to receive the heaviest use.

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Although the city report makes a strong case for limiting sheltering to between 7 pm and 7 am daily, in practice bylaw enforcement staff are not able to attend the park frequently enough to prevent 24/7 sheltering. If the city intends to continue to use parks to shelter unhoused people, it needs to respect other park users and activities by providing enforcement of the 7 am - 7 pm restriction on sheltering and ensuring compliance with other provisions of park bylaws.

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Neighbourhood residents living adjacent to parks need a larger spatial separation to sheltering sites than the current buffer of 4 metres. This separation should be at least 15 metres, and more in cases where the homes are built close to the property line.

 

In regard to the safety of people sheltering in the park, the GNA and the Gonzales Beach Block Watch have previously pointed out to the city that Gonzales Beach Park is situated right on the Strait of Juan de Fuca and is subject to frequent high wind conditions that are incompatible with sheltering/tenting. It is surprising that the city is now considering adding two more equally windy parks - Clover Point and Holland Point - to the list of parks available for sheltering. In the case of Gonzales Beach Park, there additionally is a substantial risk of falling trees and branches during wind events. The city's "Park Overview" of Gonzales Beach Park does not seem to adequately consider the location of the tree canopy in relation to potential sheltering sites. ​We recommend that the city exclude the parks in the windiest locations from the sheltering parks list.

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How to contact the city

If you are concerned about the future of sheltering in Gonzales or Pemberton Parks, consider contacting the mayor or city councillors. You can find a complete list of phone numbers and email addresses by clicking here. If emailing you may wish to cc the GNA on your email at gonzalesneighbours@gmail.com.

 

Note that you can send one e-mail that goes to all members of council or associated staff members by emailing to: mayorandcouncil@victoria.ca