Victoria_Park_Re port Final.pdf - City of Charlottetown

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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
Final Report • June 2013 VICTORIA PARK COMPREHENSIVE MASTER PLAN Outdoor Classroom & Nature Centre The original Caretaker’s cottage still exists within the park, and is home to the PEI Potters. While the Potters enjoy their tranquil and lovely location, the size and visibility of the cottage restrict their ability to expand their program. While there is no doubt that a cultural organization like the PEI Potters has great benefit to the park overall, the functional limitations of this space may not serve either the long-term best interests of this group or the park itself. The City should work with the Potters to determine their specific needs, and ensure that their future location, either in the park or elsewhere, meets the mutual needs of both the Potters and the public interest. Potential locations along the waterfront would have lots of benefit, and if they could acquire a space similar to Nova Scotia Crystal in Halifax it would be an ideal opportunity to raise their profile and grow their program. Only if and when the Potters can be accommodated elsewhere, the Caretaker’s cottage is a natural home for a new nature-based education centre and home base for the Park Conservationist. The history and location of this building are more relevant to this program than the existing space in the ball clubhouse. The removal of the remaining Park Roadway and internal drop-off adjacent to the tennis courts adds more green space to the park and additional lands for forest restoration. Within this zone, an outdoor classroom should be developed from where nature interpretation classes can be held, which would be an appropriate extension of the programming offered from within the cottage itself. The Caretaker’s cottage would become the central node for educational programs, park ecology and forest management, and would provide staff office space for full time and seasonal employees. 81
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Victoria_Park_Re port Final.pdf - City of Charlottetown

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