On Monday, Saanich council unanimously approved a pilot program that would see food trucks roll into a small number of Saanich parks as soon as next year.
Coun. Ned Taylor, who chairs the Parks, Trails, and Recreation Advisory Committee, said he is hopeful the pilot will be up and running by summer 2020.
Taylor also said staff is not yet able to give a timeline, and a program design had yet to be completed. The next step will be for staff to report back to council with a design for the program.
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“We have thousands of tourists who come through Saanich. They get on a tour bus, come to our parks on our roads, go up Mount Tolmie, which we manage and maintain, and enjoy what we have on offer,” Taylor said. “We’re missing out on a lot of the revenue from the tourism industry and this is just one way we can tap into that.”
Currently, section 17 of the Parks Management and Control Bylaw for Saanich states “no person shall sell or offer to sell any refreshments, goods or services or conduct any business in any park or on any beach save and except with written permission from council.”
Taylor said the pilot program is a way to test out whether there is demand for food trucks in Saanich parks and whether it’s something the district might want to do more consistently in the future.
He said the pilot would be conducted only in a small number of Saanich parks deemed appropriate, such as Cadboro-Gyro Park.
*Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly listed a park the pilot could be conducted in. This pilot will only take place in Saanich parks and not Capital Regional District parks.
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