This past autumn, the City of Lethbridge announced that it planned to sell a portion of London Road Park, which is situated, unsurpringly, in its London Road Neighbourhood, one of the oldest neighbourhoods in the city.
Through its real estate division, Lethbridge Land, the City of Lethbridge owns a now-vacant home adjacent to the park. They have proposed combining that property with a large chunk of the park and sell both to a property developer.
Needless to say, local residents are not too happy to lose parkspace.
The City of Lethbridge sent out letter last week to local residents indicating their intent to move forward with the proposal (after minor adjustments) despite concerns raised by residents at an information session the city held back in October.
I responded to this letter through an email, which I have included below.
Hey, Logan.
I received a letter from Ross Kilgour in the mail today, and it said that I could direct questions about the proposed commercialization of London Road Park to you.
I actually don’t have any questions, but I do have some concerns.
My biggest concern is that if this development is approved and the City of Lethbridge does indeed sell off parkland to a private developer, it will mean even less park space in the London Road Neighbourhood. My understanding is that the London Road Neighbourhood already has one of the lowest parkspace ratios of any neighbourhood in the city, and taking away park space will only amplify this issue.
I do acknowledge that you reduced what was originally a 1,479 square metre proposal by 255 square metres, but that’s only a 17.2% reduction, and we will still end up with losing over 1,000 square metres of parkspace. The concern was that we’re losing parkspace, period. This doesn’t actually address that concern.
I really don’t understand the point of this project. It certainly isn’t because of a lack of available development space. There are two empty lots about a block away that are already zoned medium density residential with a combined lot size of 1,152 square metres, which is just a little smaller than the resized proposal. Another block away is another empty lot also already zoned medium density residential with a size of 1,056 square metres.
The project website states that the London Road Area Redevelopment Plan proposed one option for the park “was to combine the park’s southwest corner with the adjacent property at 714 7 St S and create a townhouse residential development oriented to the remainder of the park.”
As someone who helped to develop that plan when I was president of the London Road Neighbourhood Association, I want to remind you that there were two options proposed for that park, and the second option seems to keep getting left out of presentations, the website, and correspondence.
“redeveloping the adjacent dwelling in the SE corner to park, thus creating open sight lines into the entire space” (p. 70)
This would be my preference. Since the City of Lethbridge already owns the home at 714 7 St S, I see no reason why the City can’t just demolish it and convert the property into parkspace, making London Road Park larger. I do agree with the proposal to remove the berm. By removing the berm and expanding the parkspace, it would increase the capacity of the park to contain additional amenities.
Increasing amenities and greenspace will increase the usability and desirability of the park for local residents, far more than private dwellings will, and more people using the park would benefit the neighbourhood in many ways.
Thanks for the consideration.
Kim Siever
