The public is invited to share their feedback with the Township of Langley about proposed plans that will change the landscape of Denny Ross Memorial Park.
Neighbours of the park gathered at an open house at James Hill Elementary School on Thursday, where three options for construction of a parking lot for park goers were presented after a previous option that saw the removal of five memorial trees was strongly opposed.
There was a large turn out at the open house, according to Coun. Kim Richter, who posted about the meeting on Facebook.
“Murrayville residents are not happy about taking part of their park away for parking, especially with all the new high density development in Murrayville,” she said. “They want their green space protected, not paved over (ostensibly for visitor parking for all the new development).”
Richter said the matter needs to return to council before a decision is made about the future of the site.
The park currently does not have a parking lot and a neighbourhood park typically has about 25 to 30 stalls, according to Al Neufeld, deputy director of public spaces with the Township.
“We previously shared [a nearby] school site that was owned by the school district, but that site has been redeveloped into townhouses so we no longer have parking for the park,” he explained. “So this project was to look at locating a parking lot for the park that is accessed off Old Yale Road at a safe location, so that was the intend.”
The public is invited to share their feedback about the proposed options by filling out a questionnaire by March 2 found online at www.tol.ca/news/2020-02-21-denny-ross-memorial-park-open-house.
Questionnaires should be returned to the attention of “Public Spaces, Parks Design and Development, Township of Langley” by mail or in-person to 20338 65 Ave. Langley, B.C. V2Y3J1, or by email to parksdev@tol.ca.
Ross was a former principal at Murrayville Elementary School. The park was officially named in his honour in 1996.
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