More than a half dozen Coquitlam parks are being designated as virtually untouchable, though it's not known when, or if, any others will follow suit.

Coquitlam council unanimously passed the first three readings of a park dedication bylaw for seven city parks on Monday.

The park dedication model is a type of land use designation that can only be reversed through a public referendum. The park dedication process also requires a two-thirds majority vote amongst council for a particular park to be given the green light.

The seven parks on the list are Oakdale, Mountain View, Dacre, Noons Creek, Norm Staff, Coquitlam Community Garden and Eagle Ridge.

"[Park designation] is an intentional designation on the part of a city which clearly demonstrates a priority on protecting specific property for park purposes for future generations," said Lori MacKay, Coquitlam's manager of parks, recreation and culture services.

Parks staff had developed a series of criteria to establish guidelines around which parks should be subject to the dedication process: those parks must be owned by the city, be in existence for a minimum of 10 years and be zoned for park use.

"It's a method that council has determined as appropriate to protect these particular parks from any other kinds of use other than public parkland," Mayor Richard Stewart said in an interview Tuesday.

Those ineligible for the dedication process include parks that are located on a shared school site, those that are on a current civic facility or grounds and others that may see future re-designs or upgrades.

That list seemed too subjective for a handful of councillors, who called into question how those benchmarks were arrived at.

"I don't know what age has got to do with a park," said Coun. Lou Sekora. "Once it's created as park, what's the difference? Should we wait for three years, five years or 10 years to have it dedicated?"

Coun. Neal Nicholson took issue with two provisions that prevent a park from being dedicated: parks being located on civic grounds and the clause that prevents parks from being dedicated if future alterations are planned.

Instead of a staff-led framework for park dedication, both Nicholson and Coun. Selina Robinson lobbied for the public to be involved as well.

"I have some issues with the dedication framework," Nicholson said.

"But I expect, based on past history, we're going to hear a lot more how our dedication framework should be framed from the public."

Given council's reluctance to endorse staff's criteria list, the matter was referred to an in-camera meeting, as all city talks around land, legal or personnel issues are legislated to be held behind closed doors.

Fourth and final reading of the bylaw dedicating the first seven parks is expected to take place later this month.

jkurucz@thenownews.com