The design for a “refresher” to White Rock’s Maccaud Park is to get underway, following council’s endorsement Monday (Sept. 20) of one of four concepts for the green space.
According to the city’s director of engineering and municipal operations, the work will “offer the least disturbance to the park.”
In addition to providing six benches, three picnic tables and refreshing plantings, it will “result in less tree removal while retaining the character of the park,” Jim Gordon told council.
Gordon said the city’s 2021-2025 financial plan, adopted in April, includes $250,000 for upgrades to the 1475 Kent St. park, and that playground or fitness equipment could be added, if council so wished.
Council earlier this year considered a recommendation to add pickleball courts to the park, but ultimately decided against the idea, after the park’s history – and the original owner’s wishes for it to be kept for passive use – was included in the discussion. The public was “25-to-one against” the courts, Coun. Scott Kristjanson noted during the April 12 council meeting.
READ MORE: Pickleball in White Rock park would be ‘terrible offence’ to Maccaud’s memory: former councillor
The planned work, which also includes four pathways, is to take place in the park’s south end. Of 80 trees, only three will need to be removed and replaced, Gordon said.
Estimated cost of the project is $140,000. The detailed design process is to begin next month, with construction to begin in early spring of 2022, according to a corporate report.
Asked if neighbours of the park were asked for input, Gordon said a consultation process was not set up for the project, given its smaller scope.
“Maybe the feedback on the pickleball could be considered consultation,” he noted.
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In 1980, the City of White Rock erected a cairn where Renee Maccaud-Nelson (right) used to live in White Rock’s Maccaud Park. She donated the park to the city in 1968. (Aaron Hinks file photo/ White Rock Museum and Archives photo)
