Liberton Park will not be the site of a new mountain bike skills park, which goes back to the drawing board with both of its proposed locations officially denied by city council.
Council voted Tuesday night on a raft of motions that stops all work by administration on planning construction of the park at Liberton, as well as rescinds previous motions calling on all previous sites to be re-evaluated.
The motions, put forward by Coun. Wes Brodhead, effectively undo all of the planning completed by the recreation department in the last year for the proposed $200,000 park.
Brodhead’s motion comes after last month’s open house in which Lacombe Park residents expressed their frustration and anger over the idea of turning Liberton’s green spaces into different structures for bike riders.
“One of the things we heard loud and clear from Lacombe Park residents was the selection of the Liberton Park site was not in their best interest,” said Brodhead. “They were quite concerned and they didn’t feel publicly consulted.”
The only other site proposed by administration – Seven Hills in Mission – was shot down by council in January because of the site’s historic nature.
Coun. Len Bracko tried to postpone Brodhead’s motions so the city had time to alert the public, but Brodhead was not interested in waiting.
“There’s still some concern that Liberton Park might still be on the table and in making this motion, I’m saying to the community, ‘We’ve heard you and we’re taking action on what we heard,’” Brodhead said.
Tuesday’s decision means the bike skills park is no closer to being built despite the money for construction being approved three years ago. While Brodhead’s motion calls for administration to look for new sites, it could take several months for council to see any new recommendation.
Brodhead’s motions came in response to a separate item on council’s agenda for Tuesday night that was hastily inserted by administration in which staff said they will no longer plan construction at Liberton Park. Administration also changed the criteria for selecting a new site, saying it will no longer recommend building a bike skills park in an existing park.
But although the agenda report posted in advance of Tuesday’s meeting clearly stated administration would no longer pursue Liberton Park as an option, some residents of Lacombe Park who were a part of last month’s open house said they still weren’t satisfied.
Shane Maynard, who spoke on behalf of his parents, spoke to council Tuesday, questioning how administration changed the criteria.
He did say he was pleased by the city’s change of heart.
“Unfortunately we lost our way in St. Albert, but I think things are changing for the better,” he said.
And while a common theme at the open house was that Lacombe Park residents supported a bike park, just not construction of it at Liberton, one of the open house’s organizers questioned whether a bike park was a good use of tax dollars.
“Council really needs to consider if a bike skills park is really in the best interests of the (senior citizens) of the community,” Christine O’Donovan said, noting some 25,000 residents of St. Albert were over the age of 45.
She also attacked comments she found on a Facebook page condemning residents’ opposition to the park as “thinly veiled bigotry.”
“Are these the people you are helping to spend $200,000 of taxpayer money?” she asked.
