When does a school’s playground count towards a park’s rankings?

This seemingly unimportant question carries some weight when you’ve been wandering around the public spaces of Vancouver for weeks, and beginning noticing just how many parks are right next to schools, with very little delineation as to when one ends and the other begins. 

Our general rule of thumb was that, whatever the technical boundaries of a park and school, if the playground was easily accessible to the public and generally blended into the common park area, it counted.

Now with that boring explanation out of the way, let us consider Camosun. Being next to an elementary school, there’s a Big Sports Field and a playground, with a fun climbing pyramid and another more modern play structure as well. 

There’s an old gravel track on the west side, in a gentle bowl shape with the trees of Pacific Spirit Park looming in the background, giving a feeling of old Vancouver. And the easy accessibility to nearby trails from the park is a definite bonus. 

One note of caution is the unique ownership structure of the site (owned by the province, leased to the park and school board), which means future upgrades are a big question mark. For the moment though, it does what it needs to, and quite pleasantly at that.