Victoria_Park_Re port Final.pdf - City of Charlottetown

VICTORIA PARK COMPREHENSIVE MASTER PLAN
Final Report • June 2013
Passive Recreation Zone
The intensive recreation zone are the active nodes of the park. These are the spaces
for organized sports and casual play experiences that require dedicated infrastructure,
investment, and maintenance. Within the intensive recreation zone action and
excitement are not only permitted, they are encouraged. Over the short and medium
term, new programs and refinements to existing facilities in this zone will better meet
the evolving needs of the Charlottetown Community.
Community Food Space
The locavore food movement is an emerging trend in public health, inspired largely
by evolving questions about where food comes from, how it is produced, and what
is consumed by the population. These questions, taken in concert with rising obesity
levels have sparked a desire for many communities to have access to fresh locally grown
produce. The locavore movement is connected to public recreation by the physical
and social benefits gardening provides, including light to moderate exercise, a sense
of community, stress relief, and access to the outdoors. Community gardens can also
add richness and texture to the public realm, and are a unique technique to cultivate a
diverse horticultural landscape in times of restricted municipal resources.
A community garden and orchard space would be a natural program addition to Victoria Park, as
this type of amenity is scalable to community interest, demand, and available space. Gardening
is a popular activity across many demographic cohorts, and provides light to moderate exercise
that is ideal for aging populations. In the short term, the area of park presently occupied by the
horseshoe pits could be converted to a community garden site with low investment costs by
the City. The community garden would be a good transitional zone between the active nodes
to the east and the west, buffering the ball diamonds from the active play spaces. The phased
in addition of fruit trees is an approach to expand the canopy cover in the park in a different
manner than typical forest restoration. As fruit trees are typically quite lovely in the spring, a
stand would add significant aesthetic value to the park, as well as providing a source of fresh
produce for the community. This is the type of project that can be championed by a local
community group, alleviating the City of significant capital or maintenance investment.
The community garden space would be enhanced by an open meadow for picnics and possibly
a community oven. These type of projects are typically community driven, and are unique
program elements that can have potential spin-off benefits. Community ovens in Dartmouth
and Toronto are used to host local food events, feed the homeless, and generate a sense of
community and ownership around the Canadian food system. If and when the skate park is
decommissioned, the community garden and orchard could be expanded into this area of Victoria
Park.
80