Photo: Goderich Town Hall
Goderich town council has hear a request to turn the open lot at 110 Picton Street West into an accessible green space for the community.
Sarah McKercher made a presentation to council, sharing that although the lot is underutilized, it’s not surplus land, and it will have value if it’s used in a community-minded way.
“If we go back and look at the official plan and amendments that have been made to the different designations and calculate [them], we see a 7.5% loss of community facilities over the last 16 years,” McKercher explained to council. “Tallying those up, it’s actually a quarter of all changes have been removing community facilities.”
She said that while changes were often made to remove or reduce community developments, rarely is the creation of such spaces done.
McKercher said that the location of a green space makes sense, since it’s located in a neighbourhood and accessible for people of all ages, it also makes sense as a calm community spaces near downtown.
Quoting a passage from the town’s official plan, she said that “The facilities which are open to the public, and serve the entire community, should be located within or near the downtown core.”
McKercher explained that her proposal to have the space developed as a senior-focused accessible green space that could become an accessory to the OneCare facility is one idea to use the lot in a community-minded way.
As council discussed the proposal, it was made clear that the space could be used for other things, such as affordable housing, but there might be value in a green space.
Mayor Trevor Bazinet moved to have staff collect data on the possibility of converting the lot to a green space to be discussed for a November meeting.