District of West Vancouver staff are hosing down a proposal from council to reduce the minimum parking distance from fire hydrants.
Council first brought up the idea in April, when they asked staff to look into reducing the distance from five metres to 2.5. The intent was to free up more parking supply on the street.
The District of West Vancouver’s bylaw staff, however, told council Monday night that the distance must be at least five metres under the BC Motor Vehicle Act, and municipal bylaws typically follow provincial regulations so they don’t conflict. The minimum distance is set in place so that fire hydrants can be visible and easily accessible in emergencies.
“I thought this was a nice idea, and it can’t be done,” Mayor Mark Sager said at the Oct. 7 meeting.
Other cities in the Lower Mainland have suggested similar changes, Coun. Linda Watt noted, including the City of Surrey.
In 2018, the Surrey council sought advice from their fire chief on reducing the limits the same as West Vancouver council are proposing. A year prior, former fire chief Len Garis co-authored a study with the University of Fraser Valley that found the space could be reduced to 2.5 metres.
“Hopefully one day that’ll change at a provincial level,” Watt said.
Council vowed to keep looking into the issue.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
