macphail
08-23-2004, 11:50 AM
Printed from www.thewhig.com web site Monday, August 23, 2004 - © 2004 The Kingston Whig-Standard
New citizens’ group fights for M-Centre
By Derek Baldwin
Monday, August 23, 2004 - 07:00
Local News - A new citizens’ group is vowing to fight City Hall to block the projected $5-million sale of the Memorial Centre site.
Selling off the city-owned 9.55-hectare (23.5-acre) Memorial site to help fund a proposed $28.5-million riverfront arena would rob the Williamsville District of what little green space remains in the area, say opponents.
A five-member Mayor’s Task Force recommended in its 36-page report released in April to sell the Memorial Centre to help pay down new capital costs to build an 80,000-square-foot arena and entertainment centre on the Kingston Marina site on Anglin Bay.
During its 100-day mandate, the task force commissioned a consultant’s report which suggested razing the existing Memorial Centre and selling the property to developers.
A concept plan by Cumming Cockburn Ltd. proposed a mega housing project comprised of 333 high-density apartments, 64 townhouses, 34 semi-
detached and 46 single-unit residences.
Most of the existing greenspace would be covered with homes and other high-density residential units, leaving less than one-tenth as parkland.
The former horseracing track, five baseball diamonds and a large grassy field used by local high school students would be paved over.
That prospect is simply unacceptable, said architect and Williamsville resident Mikaela Hughes.
As spokesperson for a group of two dozen neighbours calling themselves Williamsville Residents’ Association, Hughes said her neighbours don’t like the fact that the bid to sell off the Memorial Centre was discussed quietly by the task force long before residents were consulted.
To cull opinions from Williamsville residents, Hughes said her group has scheduled its own public meeting Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. in Princess Street United Church.
“Councillor [Rick] Downes [of Kings Town District] called a public meeting to inform his constituents and others about the [arena] proposal and to get feedback from the community,” she said. “The same thing needs to be done with respect to the Memorial Centre property.”
To date, Williamsville Councillor Ed Smith has not called such a meeting to hear concerns of his district residents.
Hughes said her group has invited Smith to attend.
The most critical issue to be addressed at the meeting is the threat of losing half of Williamsville’s greenspace in one fell swoop, she said.
To determine precisely how much Williamsville residents stood to lose through the sale of the Memorial site, Hughes used her formal architectural training to put the impact of the sale into context.
She secured a list of all Kingston parks from City Hall, assessed their size and broke the parks down by the district in which they were located.
Using spreadsheet software, her computer spit out numbers that alarmed her.
“I was shocked when I saw these numbers because it [the park space in Williamsville] is so much less than everywhere else in the city.”
What Hughes found was that, of all 12 districts in Kingston, Williamsville now has the lowest amount of park space per person. As it now stands with the Memorial Centre site open to the public, Williamsville has 14.4 square metres of parkland per person.
There are roughly 10,000 people living in that district.
If the Memorial Centre site is sold, she said, the figure would drop to 5.8 square metres of parkland per person.
By comparison, that’s almost four times less parkland than the nearest district of Kingscourt-Strathcona, which has 22.5 square metres of parkland per person.
Other districts within Kingston range from 24.3 square metres per person up to well above 100 square metres.
Selling off the Memorial site, she said, does not meet city regulations governing how the city conducts its affairs.
For example, under the Official Plan, neighbourhoods comprised of multiple units should have 17.5 square metres of parkland per person, not 5.8 square metres.
To gauge public opinion on the city’s plan to reduce parkland in Williams-ville, Hughes said a petition is being circulated. Once compiled, it will be presented to city council.
“We want to tell council to slow down, do the studies in proper order and find out what the citizens of the community want,” Hughes said.
New citizens’ group fights for M-Centre
By Derek Baldwin
Monday, August 23, 2004 - 07:00
Local News - A new citizens’ group is vowing to fight City Hall to block the projected $5-million sale of the Memorial Centre site.
Selling off the city-owned 9.55-hectare (23.5-acre) Memorial site to help fund a proposed $28.5-million riverfront arena would rob the Williamsville District of what little green space remains in the area, say opponents.
A five-member Mayor’s Task Force recommended in its 36-page report released in April to sell the Memorial Centre to help pay down new capital costs to build an 80,000-square-foot arena and entertainment centre on the Kingston Marina site on Anglin Bay.
During its 100-day mandate, the task force commissioned a consultant’s report which suggested razing the existing Memorial Centre and selling the property to developers.
A concept plan by Cumming Cockburn Ltd. proposed a mega housing project comprised of 333 high-density apartments, 64 townhouses, 34 semi-
detached and 46 single-unit residences.
Most of the existing greenspace would be covered with homes and other high-density residential units, leaving less than one-tenth as parkland.
The former horseracing track, five baseball diamonds and a large grassy field used by local high school students would be paved over.
That prospect is simply unacceptable, said architect and Williamsville resident Mikaela Hughes.
As spokesperson for a group of two dozen neighbours calling themselves Williamsville Residents’ Association, Hughes said her neighbours don’t like the fact that the bid to sell off the Memorial Centre was discussed quietly by the task force long before residents were consulted.
To cull opinions from Williamsville residents, Hughes said her group has scheduled its own public meeting Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. in Princess Street United Church.
“Councillor [Rick] Downes [of Kings Town District] called a public meeting to inform his constituents and others about the [arena] proposal and to get feedback from the community,” she said. “The same thing needs to be done with respect to the Memorial Centre property.”
To date, Williamsville Councillor Ed Smith has not called such a meeting to hear concerns of his district residents.
Hughes said her group has invited Smith to attend.
The most critical issue to be addressed at the meeting is the threat of losing half of Williamsville’s greenspace in one fell swoop, she said.
To determine precisely how much Williamsville residents stood to lose through the sale of the Memorial site, Hughes used her formal architectural training to put the impact of the sale into context.
She secured a list of all Kingston parks from City Hall, assessed their size and broke the parks down by the district in which they were located.
Using spreadsheet software, her computer spit out numbers that alarmed her.
“I was shocked when I saw these numbers because it [the park space in Williamsville] is so much less than everywhere else in the city.”
What Hughes found was that, of all 12 districts in Kingston, Williamsville now has the lowest amount of park space per person. As it now stands with the Memorial Centre site open to the public, Williamsville has 14.4 square metres of parkland per person.
There are roughly 10,000 people living in that district.
If the Memorial Centre site is sold, she said, the figure would drop to 5.8 square metres of parkland per person.
By comparison, that’s almost four times less parkland than the nearest district of Kingscourt-Strathcona, which has 22.5 square metres of parkland per person.
Other districts within Kingston range from 24.3 square metres per person up to well above 100 square metres.
Selling off the Memorial site, she said, does not meet city regulations governing how the city conducts its affairs.
For example, under the Official Plan, neighbourhoods comprised of multiple units should have 17.5 square metres of parkland per person, not 5.8 square metres.
To gauge public opinion on the city’s plan to reduce parkland in Williams-ville, Hughes said a petition is being circulated. Once compiled, it will be presented to city council.
“We want to tell council to slow down, do the studies in proper order and find out what the citizens of the community want,” Hughes said.