When Jamie Cuthbert was growing up, Rocky Point Park was a neighbourhood destination almost nobody outside Port Moody knew about.
“It was always our own little secret,” said Cuthbert, who is still in the park 20 years later as the owner of Rocky Point Kayak and Rocky Point Ice Cream.
But the park isn’t a secret anymore.
Last year the city booked 159 events at Rocky Point. They included public functions like RibFest and Canada Day celebrations that each attracted 40,000 to 45,000 people, along with smaller private functions, picnics at the shelter, concerts on the performance stage and charity runs.
This year there have already been 109 bookings up until July.
And the arrival of SkyTrain service at the nearby Moody Centre station is making it easier for people from around Metro Vancouver to get to the park. During July’s RibFest, the station saw 60% more users pass through the fare gates on the Saturday of the event than on a typical Saturday, and 80% more on the Sunday.
That easy access by transit is breaking down one of the controls that used to keep the park from getting too overcrowded: it’s lack of parking.
“Parking isn’t the barrier it used to be,” said Port Moody mayor Mike Clay. “There’s other ways for people to get to the park.”
And they’re coming.
Cuthbert said the amount of people using the park 20 years ago when he first set up shop was about 15% of the current number of visitors enjoying its myriad of amenities, like the boat launch, swimming pool, water park, performance stage, skate park and walking trails, not to mention the spectacular ocean and mountain views across and down Moody Inlet.
“It’s such a beautiful setting,” Clay said. “It highlights what our city is. It brings together everything we’re about. To me it’s the epitome of what a community park should be.”
But with the adjacent Flavelle Mill property slated for redevelopment to a mixed-use, urban neighbourhood that could be home to up to 7,000 people and Moody Centre poised to become an urban town centre that would bring another 3,000 people into the park’s proximity, keeping it a community treasure will be a challenge.
“Obviously people who live here get frustrated if they think it’s full of people coming from outside the city,” Clay said. “The challenge is how do you manage that.”
One way would be to make the park bigger.
Flavelle Oceanfront Development’s proposal for redeveloping the mill site would dedicate almost a quarter of its 11.9 acres to park and open public space, including an extension of the boardwalk to connect it to Rocky Point.
To the east, the city has been eyeing the pockets of industrial properties along the north side of Murray Street for years.
Clay said the city won’t allow any rezoning or redevelopment of that side of the street, so with few options for owners looking to sell, they’ll eventually have to negotiate with the city. Then the city will have to decide how to integrate those properties into the park.
“What do we make of that space and how do we activate it?” Clay said. “You have to be constantly evaluating it.”
Making people aware of Port Moody’s other parks would be another way to relieve pressure on Rocky Point.
“I think we’re underutilizing a lot of neighbourhood parks,” said Clay, adding the city could do a better job of steering community groups that want to hold events in Rocky Point to explore other options.
“We have a lot of passive park in Port Moody and we have to make them more attractive for them to be used.”
As a businessman whose livelihood — and that of the 70 people he employs — comes from the park, Cuthbert said he loves how popular and busy Rocky Point has become. But as a resident, he also knows the frustration of not being able to find a parking spot or an unpopulated patch of grass on a sunny, summer weekend.
“Everyone wants to be where the action is,” Cuthbert said. “But the place is still pretty awesome.”
How the city's nine parks staff keeps Rocky Point Park and other Port Moody green spaces running:
• Remove solid waste three times a day;
• Clean washrooms three times a day;
• Pick up litter three times a day;
• Cut the grass weekly;
• Inspect the playground monthly;
• Irrigate, fertilize, aerate and seed the turf annually;
• Maintain the pier, picnic tables, benches, sidewalks, spray park as required;
