Inadequate fence near Maples school concerns residents

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This article was published 12/06/2023 (1191 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Residents in the Maples living next to an elementary school playground without a suitable fence fear it’s only a matter of time until a child is seriously hurt, or they are.

A back lane separates some Abraham Bay residents’ detached garages from sports fields at O.V. Jewitt Community School. Much of the school fields’ border is protected by a two-metre-high chain-link fence, but a significant portion — specifically, behind one of two permanent soccer goals — has only separated, decorative low wood posts joined by lengths of chain.

Homeowner Maryanne Blahey said she faces issues daily because of the inadequate fencing near the soccer field.

“They’re running into the back lane,” Blahey said. “They’ll run after the ball, or they’ll kick it over our fence.”

Blahey said that kids are regularly running into the lane during the evening to retrieve balls.

Residents Viktor and Laura Lewin, who’ve experienced the same thing, have attempted to have the city address the problem. City communications officer Kalen Qually said the complaint had been investigated and, since the issue related to activities on school grounds, discussed the matter with school officials.

Qually said the city was told the school had monitors supervising during play and that kids running into the lane had not been an issue. The school had also moved the soccer goals in response to residents’ concerns.

Brian O’Leary, superintendent for Seven Oaks School Division, said that most of the playing field is on city property and there is a joint maintenance agreement in place. O.V. Jewitt students are allowed to use the park during recess.

Qually said the park is, technically, city property but functions as part of the school grounds.

The Lewins said the issue is not so much children wandering into the back lane during school hours, but older kids kicking balls into yards and wandering into the lane after school.

“The little kids we don’t have an issue with,” Laura Lewin said.

Residents said organized team soccer games hadn’t taken place on the field in more than a year. The problem is kids using the field after school, without any adult supervision.

The back lane can have a significant amount of traffic at times with vehicles driving in both directions.

Laura Lewin said she’s concerned about sitting out on her patio and being hit by a wayward soccer ball, and said she fears for the safety of her grandchildren.

“I can’t let them play out there in the evening because we’re afraid they’re going to get hit,” she said.

graham.mcdonald@freepress.mb.ca