Expect to pay more to attend events and see attractions located within the jurisdiction of the Vancouver Park Board.
On Monday night, the Park Board’s commissioners unanimously approved the new “Amenity Improvement Fee Framework” on a two-year pilot project basis starting in January 2025.
This strategy is being pursued under the Park Board’s broader “Think Big” strategy of generating much-needed revenue to help support the maintenance and improvement costs of aging facilities and attractions that are seeing heavy wear and tear from use.
Ticketed special events by third-party private organizers and other groups staged on park lands and beaches would be subject to a $1 to $2 Amenity Improvement Fee (AIF), but this would be based on the ticket value and can be negotiable with the organizers. For instance, this could apply to special events such as Bard on the Beach and the ticketed premium viewing areas of the Honda Celebration of Light fireworks.
A $1 AIF would be applied to Park Board-organized special events, such as events at the VanDusen Botanical Garden, the Bloedel Conservatory, and the Stanley Park Train’s seasonal events.
Furthermore, there would also be an AIF by introducing a 3% increase on select admissions and permits from the Park Board, including admission fees for the VanDusen Botanical Garden and the Bloedel Conservatory, permits for filming and photography, external permitted non-ticketed special events, park use permits, the Burrard Marina permits, and the regular operations of the Stanley Park Train.
Inside Vancouver’s Bloedel Floral Conservatory during the blooming of the rare corpse flower in 2018. (Stephanie Braconnier/Shutterstock)
Festival of Lights at VanDusen Botanical Garden. (Vancouver Park Board)
While the framework is now approved, these fees are still subject to finalization and approval before the end of 2024, when the commissioners reconvene to finalize the 2025 comprehensive fee increases for Vancouver’s parks and recreation system for incorporation into the City of Vancouver’s 2025 budget.
Also, Park Board staff will work with City staff to create a new interest-bearing reserve to collect revenues, which would then be directed toward maintenance and upgrade initiatives.
According to the Park Board, the AIF revenues could potentially be directed towards adding a permanent generator for the Bloedel Conservatory, upgrading the water systems and head floats of the Burrard Marina, and installing permanent purpose-built infrastructure such as lighting, water connections, and power kiosks to support the staging of special events and reduce the event production costs incurred by organizers from using temporary equipment.
It could also be used to help fund new battery-electric locomotives for the Stanley Park Train, which has received much public attention in recent years due to its prolonged temporary closure due to poor maintenance.
In the first year, the AIF is expected to generate between $500,000 and $700,000 in revenue. In the future, the AIF could potentially be expanded to other services and commercial activities within the Park Board’s jurisdiction.
The AIF is intended to address pressing maintenance issues of aging facilities and infrastructure and reduce the pressure on Vancouver residents and businesses to increase their property taxes to address these funding woes. Instead, the AIF would pass on some of the financial burden to the large number of non-residents who frequent the city’s events and attractions.
“The net revenue-generating facilities such as the Stanley Park Train, VanDusen Garden, and various large scale special events, are frequently visited by Vancouver non-residents who don’t contribute to the core services through property tax payments,” reads a Park Board staff report.
“So, while visitors across the region, and many tourists contribute to the wear and tear on these facilities, the current financial burden to maintain these assets resides solely with Vancouver taxpayers. Introducing the Framework provides an opportunity for visitors from outside of Vancouver to help pay for the improvements of the destination attractions.”
Since 1982, a similar facility improvement fee has existed for the City-owned and operated Vancouver Civic Theatres, which manages the Orpheum Theatre, Queen Elizabeth Theatre, and Vancouver Playhouse Theatre. A facility improvement fee of $4 to $4.75 per ticket for concerts, plays, musicals, and other events and shows held at these civic theatres now raises about $1.5 million per year, and it is directed into a reserve.
A notable example of a facility improvement fee is Vancouver International Airport’s (YVR) Airport Improvement Fee, which has been in place since 1993. To date, YVR’s fee has raised billions of dollars to expand and improve the terminal building facilities and airfield. International and most domestic passengers currently pay $25, while BC and Yukon passengers pay a lower fee of $5.