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VIDEO: Pandosy park going ahead after 32-year struggle

Work is beginning to make room for a waterfront park in the South Pandosy area. It's a park first envisioned more than three decades ago.

For Michael Neill, he simply noticed it while out on a walk. Fencing had gone up along Abbott and Walnut Streets along the waterfront in the Pandosy area.

"It feels pretty surreal, it's wonderful," said Neill. "I said, look at this, I can't believe it."

<who> Photo Credit: NowMedia

He points out it was back in 1989 that the city first started buying up waterfront homes in the area for the purpose of a park, but then somehow the plan lost steam.

When Neill got involved in advocating for a Pandosy area waterfront park in the 1990s, he said, the plan seemed to have disappeared altogether.

"I was told that 'no, no, this was being acquired and it was for redevelopment at the right time," he said. "It must have just got forgotten."

The way, Neill tells it, it wasn't until another area resident dug up some old files that the idea was brought back from the dead.

"And there was one of those 'where did you get those documents?' and I said well they're out there, freedom of information, somebody got them. So they said 'Oh my gosh', so that really changed everything."

Over the years, instead of the original park idea, there were plans that included hotels and condos.

<who> Photo Credit: Contributed </who> (2011)

"Yeah, the hotel concept was around 2003, I think," said Neill. "It was 2011 when they came back and they wanted to put condominiums here and they were going to retain a walkway for a public boardwalk."

He and other neighbours found themselves digging into their own pockets to remind the city of the original idea.

<who>Photo credit: Contributed </who>

'"We spent $900 for him to do this drawing of our vision of what this should be instead of condos."

After some public pressure, the city decided to let community members take part in brainstorming sessions to bring the ideas to life, but an actual park was still elusive.

<who> Photo Credit: Contributed

<who> Photo Credit: Contributed

"They finally did change the zoning to park so that was our hurrah, we finally locked the land in. But they said it was going to be until something like 2027 before they were actually going to do anything."

A 13-year time frame didn't sound right, so the local neighbourhood association got involved.

<who> Photo Credit: NowMedia

"The city was more after selling a piece of this park to fund the building of it," recalled association president Paul Clark.

It became his group's turn to keep up the pressure.

"Absolutely," he said. "If we wouldn't have kept on going with this we probably wouldn't have it right now."

Clark has praise for the current city administration, and can't wait to see what's about to unfold. "This is very exciting," he said.

<who> Photo Credit: Contributed

"When they finally voted it through, it was great," said area resident Joe Uhearn.

"I think it was Charlie Hodge that said 'finally the squeaky wheel got this attention'."

Along the way, the city brought in new development cost charges to fund development of parks like this one.

"I think that was a great thing for this park, the test case," said Uhearn, "and I think what we'll see in the future."

<who> Photo Credit: Contributed

"It's a feel-good story," said City Parks Planner Stephan Johansson. He's excited about the project which he said will be a unique, urban waterfront park with a focus on paddling.

"We're doing the last of our homework before we share our master plan," he said. The public will be able to check out what the city has in mind later this month.

A hazard assessment on the houses is underway before they can be torn down. Demolition is expected to take place in January.



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