Coun. Rod Klumph hit the nail on the head when he said the Community Garden should be considered green space.
We agree, so let’s make it official: move the garden to one of our existing parks and treat it as one of its features.
In recent weeks there has been a lot of discussion about whether or not the community garden should be relocated, and if it is to where.
For those of you in the first camp, we hate to break it to you, but that ship has sailed. There was never a scenario where the garden got to stay where it is, regardless of whether the town purchased the property or not.
It was just a matter of time until it was developed, which makes it surprising the location was chosen to begin with.
Admittedly, finding a location for a community garden isn’t easy. Unless a private individual is willing to give the title of a parcel of land to the Community Garden Society — as the Neerlandia Co-op did for the Neerlandia Sports Committee for its community hall/ice rink project — there is always going to be the possibility that they are going to end up right back where they are now, scrambling to find a new home.
Presumably, they were in the same situation when the garden moved from its original location on 43rd Street and 61st Avenue.
That is why we were pleased to hear the town offer Millennium Park as a solution. A park is the definite way to go and that is why so many communities use their public green space to host them.
For example, in Kelowna, B.C. the city has partnered with the Central Okanagan Community Gardens Society to create community gardens in its park system.
The only question in our mind (except those around) the logistics of actually creating a garden at a new location) is which of the town’s parks is best suited.
For argument’s sake, we will assume all the parks have about equal challenges in physically creating a successful garden.
That being said, mayor Dave McKenzie is right when he says the town doesn’t have a lot of viable locations, as Barrhead doesn’t have a lot of public parks. Aside from the aforementioned mentioned Millennium Park, we have four other parks: Yuill, Empey and Cecil Martin and Lion’s.
We believe the last two should be eliminated from consideration. Cecil Martin, our largest green space, is by far the most popular and as such already hosts numerous activities and Lion’s Park is the home of youth soccer.
Of the two remaining parks, we believe Millennium is the best choice because there is plenty of space and from our observation is underutilized.
Yes, we realize the town was presented with a petition from nearby residents opposing its move there, but until they go before council making their reasoning public, Millennium is our choice. What do you think?
