New bathrooms and paved parking are ready for the busy summer season at Aylard Farm.
In a bid to get folks off roadside parking along Becher Bay Road and open access for emergency vehicles, the CRD added parking in the previously unpaved seasonal parking area. Work started in the East Sooke Regional Park site last fall and finished in late June to add 93 parking stalls – increasing the number of year-round parking stalls from 61 to 154, as well as six new accessible parking stalls.
The pit toilet building on site was also replaced and upgraded to meet current accessibility standards, the accessible trail was improved and a new picnic area added. Landscaping is expected to be finished in the fall.
With nearly 250,000 visits to the park annually, East Sooke is one of the Capital Region’s busiest parks, according to the CRD.
It is tied for fourth among the parks most visited by CRD residents last year – tied with Witty’s Lagoon at 46 per cent – according to a 2024 survey. It falls behind the more popular Elk/Beaver Lake (66 per cent), Thetis Lake (57 per cent) and Island View Beach (52 per cent) in a consistent top-five trend since 2017.
Mailed to 7,650 random households, the survey saw a 23 per cent response rate with 1,762 returned.
Of those who responded, 94 per cent think parks are an important fixture in the community, with 97 per cent saying they’re important for outdoor recreation.
Find the full parks survey results online at crd.ca.
