Secluded Kitchener park set for a facelift
KITCHENER — Before a community garden was established four years ago, Uniroyal-Goodrich Park was “just a huge, empty, secluded area” where people were leery to let their children play unattended.
The garden, and a shaded picnic shelter whose roof collects rainwater for gardeners to use, have made the park a more inviting place, said Juanita Metzger, who lives in the area and helped get the community garden going. “It’s become a real social gathering place.”
But many people still have concerns about the park’s safety and are keen to see a plan by the city to improve the park, which is on Guelph Avenue west of Weber Street, right next to the Spur Line Trail.
“There has been a lot of interest,” said Jonn Barton, an associate landscape architect with the city who is working on the project. “In the times I’ve been to the park, there’s been a number of residents who were very excited and eager to share their ideas.”
The park is among a handful of neighbourhood parks earmarked for improvements this year under a 10-year plan to invest $2.2 million to rejuvenate older parks in the central part of the city that may no longer be meeting the needs of the people who live nearby.
The 1.24-hectare park has few amenities beyond the community garden and the shelter, which provides much-needed shade. But the garden has sparked other community events such as a weekly summer potluck supper and free yoga lessons offered by nearby residents, Metzger said.
There’s no playground climber or swings, though kids enjoy digging in the sand pit. As more people come to the park for a variety of reasons, more people seem to be using the park’s open space for impromptu soccer and baseball games. “People appreciate the open space because it’s such a rarity in dense neighbourhoods,” she said.
The improvements are limited only by the $125,000 budget, which will be split between a couple of projects, said Barton.
“It’s a bit of a blank slate, and there’s lots of possibilities to create something interesting,” Metzger said.
Metzger said some people are still concerned about security and visibility, because the park has only one entrance, is fenced on three sides and is sometimes used by people who don’t live in the area,
such as scrap collectors or homeless people looking for a place to sleep. The park is also on a rise of land surrounded by trees, so isn’t really visible to nearby houses or the adjacent Spur Line Trail.
Some have suggested things such as an outdoor bread oven or a community feast table, that build on the park’s growing sense of community, she said.
Others have proposed a more inviting entrance to the park, and better access than the steep path up to the park, as well as natural play components like stumps or rocks, or trails through the trees.
“People like that it’s a hidden gem in the neighbourhood,” she said.
The city did an online survey to learn how people use the park and what changes they would like to see. That survey closed July 13. City staff will analyze the results, and use them to help shape city staff proposals, which the public can see and comment on at a public meeting Aug. 3 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Breithaupt Centre. Any proposals and plans will be posted on the city’s website at www.kitchener.ca/en/livinginkitchener/uniroyal-goodrich-park.asp
Construction is likely to start this fall, Barton said, with completion next year.