One of Bradford’s older community parks could become more luxurious in the not-to-distant future.
The plans for Luxury Park’s redesign were revealed during the Community Access Networking meeting for Ward 7 Coun. Peter Dykie Oct. 16.
“Over the years, I’ve been getting many people asking me about this park and wanting it to be upgraded since there’s a lot of people moving into the more established, more mature areas of town,” Dykie said.
To enhance the park built in 1983, the design focuses on increasing the amount of green space available for both active and passive recreation, according to Shan Tennyson, landscape architect for the town.
To accomplish this, the existing baseball diamond and basketball courts are planned to be removed and replaced with a single multi-use sports court measuring about 15 metres by 29 metres close to the centre of the park. The existing playground equipment will remain as it was replaced in 2018.
A shade structure is planned to be located between the playground and court to make it convenient for users of either, and to free up the majority of the remaining park space for paved looping paths, benches, tree plantings, gardens and open green space.
Two different concepts for the design were presented.
The first replaces the existing parking lot off of Kulpin Avenue with a landscaped pedestrian entryway featuring brick/stone pillars, gardens, flowering trees and a walkway.
A second concept retains the existing parking lot, and adds some fitness equipment to the east side of the park.
Both designs plan to demolish a washroom building which was added to the park in the 1990s, but has been closed for the last 10 years, and both plan to retain the existing pedestrian walkways connecting the park to Maple Court, Fred Cook Drive and Collings Avenue.
“The biggest thing is parking. Should we eliminate the parking lot or keep the parking?” Dykie asked, adding that from what he’s seen, the lot is mostly used by local residents for overflow parking for vehicles that don’t fit in their driveways.
While he’s happy to see an influx of younger families who have moved into the area in recent years, he suspects it might also be driving the demand for more parking spaces.
The main reason to remove the parking lot, according to Tennyson, is to create a better entrance and add some privacy for neighbours.
While only a handful of residents were in attendance, there were still plenty of questions about the two potential design options.
Mayor Leduc asked about changes to grading, noting that the west side of the park is popular for tobogganing, and while Tennyson explained that grading will need to be changed in some areas for drainage and accessibility, staff also plan to include an earth berm on the east side of the park, both to reduce the amount of material removed and to add visual interest.
Deputy mayor Raj Sandhu said he had received concerns from residents about the lack of lighting in the park, and Tennyson confirmed that while not included in the design renderings, staff plan to have lighting along the paths.
Ward 3 Coun. Ben Verkaik wanted to verify that there was still on-street parking available nearby for those who might need to drive to the park.
Resident and BradfordToday columnist Brent Fellman asked why the baseball diamond was being removed, and if any other courts or fields were planned for the east side, instead of just paths.
Tennyson explained the ball diamond at Luxury Park is mostly unused with the addition of new diamonds at Joe Magani Park, and Leduc added that diamonds in smaller parks, like Green Valley Park, lead to noise complaints from nearby residents.
“This is a unique park. ... It’s all surrounded by housing, this park. ... This is more of a passive enjoy yourself kind of a park. We just want the residents in that area to use it and not have people coming from all over,” he said.
Dykie said a resident contacted him to requested a splash pad, but staff estimate that could add as much as $500,000 to the project's estimated $670,000 budget, and councillors agreed that splash pads are better suited to larger community parks which can accommodate more visitors.
The town plans to publish an online survey where residents can share their feedback later this week, and plans to share links to the survey on their social media.
In the meantime, residents can email Dykie at [email protected].
