Greenspace advocates urge preservation

Wildwood

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/04/2023 (1215 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg needs volunteer organizations such as Outdoor Urban Recreational Spaces (OURS) and Crescent Park Rescue (CPR) more than ever in this age of climate crisis.

As a member of both organizations, Muriel St. John expects positive news about making Winnipeg a greener, more environmentally friendly city. The city’s master greenspace plans are due later this year and they will address biodiversity and establishing a natural corridor.

“Winnipeg is one of the few cities in Canada without a current environmental plan,” St. John said, adding, “a blueprint for increased greenspace in Winnipeg is the goal.”

Current city documents allow for repurposing 30 per cent of city-owned golf courses to other uses.

Considering Winnipeg lands include only six per cent greenspace, as opposed to an average of nine per cent in other Canadian cities, the new master plans for the environment cannot come soon enough.

OURS members have made presentations to city council urging it to keep John Blumberg Golf Course free of housing development. Council voted in January 2022 against selling Blumberg, and Coun. John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry) said at the time that “the development proposal received strong opposition from greenspace advocates.”

To the surprise of OURS, a recent consultant’s report for the city on repurposing golf course properties includes the option to sell Blumberg for development, regardless of the vote to not sell it.

These tireless volunteers continue amidst challenges and successes. St. John mentioned that street parking at the Thermëa Spa just outside Crescent Drive Park in Fort Garry continues to cause safety concerns.

The city allowed the spa to build on Crescent Drive Golf Course in 2015. The spa abuts Crescent Drive Park, and the heavy flow of pedestrian, bike, and car traffic around the park, in conjunction with the street parking and no sidewalks is “an accident waiting to happen,” St. John said.

Before the pandemic, representatives of Crescent Park Rescue met with and asked Thermëa to encourage visitors to use the parking lot after the group monitored the lot and noticed many unused parking spaces.

Post-pandemic, the parking lot is clearly too small to accommodate the increased volume of spa visitors. CPR had a plan developed for Thermëa to expand the lot with minimal tree removal, but the problem continues.

Although council and Thermëa both aware of the situation, St. John fears it might take an accident before anything changes.

St. John says public and environmental safety must take precedence over financial considerations.