Council may have rubbed salt in a long-healing wound last week when it turned down the opportunity to work on the future of Liberton Park alongside community members, say two Lacombe residents.
Seleena Abray was one of the organizers of a March 2013 town hall held during the Liberton bike skills park debate. The skills park was later relocated to 43R Riel Drive, but has experienced significant delays and has yet to be built.
She says that council has taken a step in the wrong direction by striking down Coun. Cam MacKay’s motion to form a Liberton Park Committee. The motion was defeated 4-3, with MacKay, Coun. Sheena Hughes and Coun. Bob Russell in support.
“If there was even a little bit of mistrust to begin with, now it’s just going to perpetuate,” Abray said.
The committee, as envisioned by Coun. MacKay, would be have been composed of one or two council members, a city staff member and a handful of residents. The committee would then meet four times to discuss ways of increasing usage to the park that is compatible with the surrounding community.
One of the major contentions of the bike skills park proposal for Liberton Park, was the lack of consultation with affected residents.
“Had this type of committee been in place prior to that concept being put forth, I don’t think we would have had to spend so much time and energy proving that Liberton Park wasn’t the appropriate spot to begin with, ” Abray said. “I think a committee would have very easily come to that conclusion.”
Incorporating residents’ voices in the decision-making process can “only lead to something very good” she added, as residents are often most knowledgeable about the needs and concerns of their particular neighbourhoods.
Mayor Nolan Crouse, who voted against the motion, told the Gazette that he does not support developing parks or streets on a case-by-case basis.
“I have been saying this for years, that governance is a systemic implementation of service standards,” Crouse said. “A one-off park plan is not holistic and we would be better off debating a full neighbourhood development policy.”
He suggested that residents of Lacombe work with the city’s neighbourhood development co-ordinator, Angie Dedrick, on efforts to improve the park.
Rahim Jamani, an administrator for the We Love Liberton Facebook group –which was originally created as a means to fight the bike skills park – said the community has worked with Dedrick on past projects such as block parties, but residents chose to work more closely with Coun. MacKay because he is supportive of their concerns.
“I think there needs to be a relationship with city administration, but at the end of the day … to work with the decision makers on this big plot of land would make much more sense,” he said.
Jamani said that there is still some concern among residents that the city might drastically change the dynamics or esthetics of the park.
“(The committee) would have gone a long way to have appeased some of those concerns,” he said.
According to parks and recreation manager Diane Enger, there are no major changes on the books for Liberton Park, other than the replacement of aging play structure equipment – to be completed in 2018 or 2019.
