Delta council on Monday discussed the reforestation plan for Winskill Park, agreeing the public needs to know what exactly is going on to address concerns.
Coun. Dan Boisvert asked to pull a petition, which had 866 signatures, opposed to the removal of trees at the park, from the correspondence section of the agenda to get an update from staff.
After discussion on plans to accommodate disc golf players, Jim Bauer, Director of Facilities and Capital Projects, explained the evolving reforestation plan, part of the overall the Winskill Aquatic and Fitness Centre replacement project that includes a fourth baseball diamond as part of sports field enhancements.
Bauer said the city bylaws and standards will result in a 375-to-400 replacement trees for the 166 trees that will be removed.
A more detailed plan, including creating a forested pathway, is still in the works, explained Bauer.
“Through our reforestation plan that we’re still working though the details, on, we’d be looking at placing those replacement trees in a number of different areas within the park, possibly in the buffer area, some of the walkways possibly at the parking lot and other areas, possibly, throughout the city, so, we’re certainly looking to replace those 166 trees with between 375 to 400 new trees ….as we develop the more detailed reforestation plan, part of that would contemplate this forested pathway and having an opportunity in the new year to bring forward that more detailed plan back for feedback and further input to ensure that it is meeting the expectations of the needs,” he said.
Assuring the city will try to make any pathway accessible, Bauer added the evolving details will also include specific tree species that are more resilient to the climate.
Coun. Alicia Guichon said that some of the information “hasn’t reached the public properly with how staff have proposed to plant double the trees that are being taken out.”
Boisvert ended the discussion by telling Bauer and staff, “I’ve seen a lot of chatter on social media about this and what concerns me a lot, is that the work that you and your team are doing does not seem to be disseminating itself. There is a lot of mis or inaccurate information in a lot of comments and stuff that I read, and as I read the comments and I go back to the report and pull it out, there’s just so much mismatch. I just hope that we could just enhance the communication that we’re doing with the residents, so that they really truly understand exactly what it is that’s going on, and if we could just find ways, maybe through the communications department to get more out there, I think that would beneficial.”
