Last week, several members of our community attended the information session the city ran to update everyone on the Breithaupt Park rehabilitation effort.
We were told several months ago that approximately $30,000 was being allocated for this park and our neighbourhood association was asked to present ideas for the city’s efforts.
We held a few meetings with city staff and posted a Blog entry about the process. Several interesting ideas were presented but around mid-summer we were informed that approximately $8,000 of the “park rehabilitation” money was being spent on a concrete walkway through the “accessible” garden on the side of the Breithaupt Centre. This limited the funds available for the rest of the park and so far we have received no final cost for the walkway.
Our neighbourhood association is investigating how city money is allocated because it is not clear to us that the walkway, which sounds like ‘infrastructure’, should come from a ‘rehabilitation’ fund.
Throughout the summer the NA has worked to try and improve communication with the city and one result has been the city’s information session where they presented a series of detailed display panels showing both implemented and proposed park updates.
The Breithaupt Park Rehabilitation is detailed on the city’s website here. At the bottom of the page are the “Open House Display Materials” and we urge everyone to look at these so you can understand the process and goals. Some good things have already happened with the park trails and more is planned for next spring.
The City of Kitchener is asking for input on some of the rehabilitation ideas. There is a link at the bottom of this page for a comment sheet you can print out and send to them, or you can use the other link to send an email message to Yvonne Cardoso with your comments.
For example, on the General Park Map there is a question on the bottom left: “Is this a valuable trail link and Access to Breithaupt Centre and park from Margaret Ave/Union Street”? Our NA would say “YES!” because this suggestion came out of our meetings.
It is great that the city is planting trees for shade around the splash pad, but they will not provide much protection for the families that use this facility for several years. We would like to see some kind of a ramada structure for shade built so we don’t have to wait.
The Natural Trail Map shows two distinct groups of trails with the splash pad area in the middle. We would like to see a pedestrian/bike path go through this middle area to join the two trail systems. This way, you could easily walk or ride your bike from Margaret Ave, through the park and all the way to Lancaster.
Please look through the material’s on the city’s website and send them your comments. Email us at mhbpna@gmail.com if you have any questions about our perspective.