‘Something special’
Trenton Park upgrade finally becoming reality
It’s been more than eight years since the Town of Trenton commissioned a Dartmouth-based consulting firm, Ekistics Planning and Design, to build a master plan for an upgraded Trenton Park.
This past August, construction began on the park to make the plan a reality.
“I think it’s a gift to our community,” says Pictou County resident Jen Bethell. “I’m just really excited that we’re going to have this in the future.”
Bethell is the chair of Hemlock Group, a group she created in early 2013 to ensure the park plan would come to fruition. She spoke to members of the community who agreed Trenton Park could and should be turned “into something special.”
“We have worked in concert with the town throughout the entire process to ensure that it’s what they want as well,” says Bethell.
When putting together the group, she recruited people that had the skillsets to make the project happen, including someone who worked in tourism, someone who worked in construction and someone who worked in the municipal government.
“We took their master plan and used it as a guide and continued to work to develop our own plan that focused heavily on sustainability and longevity,” Bethell says. “One thing that we didn’t want was to create something … grandiose that wasn’t affordable. We wanted to ensure that we enhanced the structures that already existed.”
Bethell says that her passion for the park project comes from her visits to Victoria Park in Truro.
“Many of my friends at the time, our kids were small, were travelling to Victoria
Park to go to the playground and take the kids bicycling on the trails,” she says. “In my opinion, I think that we’ll have something just as wonderful, or better.”
According to the town’s website, Trenton has been awarded $3.8 million for the revitalization project; $2.3 million from the federal government, $1.2 million from the provincial government, and up to $300,000 from municipal governments, including Trenton, New Glasgow, and Stellerton.
“In my opinion, I think that we’ll have something just as wonderful, or better.”
Jen Bethell
Bethell said that Hemlock Group played a large role in gathering these funds. They gave presentations to mayors and councils, and worked with MLAs to get the provincial and federal governments on board.
She hopes that the revitalized Trenton Park will become a signature destination and draw people to the town – not only to visit, but to retire there or even move there for work.
According to the Trenton Park Revitalization April2020 Status Report, the construction will take place over three phases and finish in fall 2021. Phase one involves improving the front entrance and parking lot, and starting the civil upgrades needed for future improvements.
Phase two will begin buildings, including new washrooms. In phase three, the new playground and dog park will be installed, and shade and seating will be added. The revitalization project will also make the park accessible.
Currently, construction is still in phase one, though Bethell says phase two is imminent. Bethell says she’s looking forward to seeing the playground – which she calls “an anchor piece” – and the dog park. Overall, though, she says the foundational pieces, such as the signage, shelters and parking, will be what pulls the whole project together.
“It’s just one of those key amenity pieces that is so valuable to have in your community,” Bethell says. “People will be driving to Pictou County saying, ‘come on, let’s go to Trenton Park.’”