Trevor Franker, senior parks planner with the Department of Natural Resources, explains the proposed redevelopment plans for Laurie Park during a public information meeting Jan. 14, at Grand Lake Community Centre. (Healey photo)

GRAND LAKE: Residents that use Laurie Park, in Grand Lake, felt like their worst nightmare was just beginning.
At a public information meeting Jan. 14, held at the Grand Lake Community Centre, the redevelopment plan for the park was presented to a fair sized crowd in attendance. It will see the park’s 71 campsites upgraded to be bigger and redistributed throughout the 26-hectare parcel of land, new washroom facilities will be constructed as well as an amphitheatre, two new look-offs, several cooking stations and a new camping loop where those with campers will be able to locate. The total cost for the redevelopment is $2.6 million, which is coming from provincial and federal stimulus programs.
However, the Minister responsible for the Department of Natural Resources said in a Jan. 21, interview, it wasn’t clear to him that the plans would mean dropping day-use activity at the park.
John MacDonell, the NDP MLA representative for Hants East, said he didn’t interpret the redevelopment plan the way everyone who saw the conceptual plan did.
“If my department made a presentation saying there would be no day use after the park has been renovated, that was never clear to me,” MacDonell said. “I never thought we were going to disallow day use. Once it re-opens, then it’s our intention to incorporate the traditional day use component.”
At the meeting, Trevor Franker, senior parks planner with DNR and Harold Carroll, Director of Parks and Recreation with DNR, attempted to explain what was going to take place and what the meeting was for, but the crowd wasn’t having any of it, interrupting both on several occasions.
“It’s my worst fear and nightmare,” one woman said as she looked at one of the maps showing the redevelopment.
Another man confronted one of the DNR officials before the presentation began.
“Most of us here think this is a shame,” the man, who wouldn’t give his name, said. “We already think its cut in stone this is going to happen.”
Carroll said the timeline to get things turned around from a report with the citizens’ comments and feedback to reality is tight. They hope to have the tender out by May 2010, so work can begin in June. It’s expected the construction will be completed on the project by March 31, 2011, in time for the 2011 season.
“When we open it after the work has been done it has to be as a camping first park,” Carroll said.
That’s not what the majority in attendance wanted to hear.
Sackville resident Mary Lou Whitehorne, who travels to Laurie Park as often as she can with her dog, said going to the park is like dying and going to heaven.
“To not be able to go to Laurie Park and use it would break my heart,” Whitehorne said. “The loss of day use would be tragic. I want the opportunity to swim under the stars on the rocky shores of Laurie Park.”
Waverley-Fall River-Beaver Bank NDP MLA Percy Paris had several pages of notes on the meeting. While he may have been surprised with the amount of people who turned up, and others who didn’t know anything about it, he knew the passion would be front and centre.
“Anytime you have a public meeting, anytime you have numbers like this and I saw the people as they came in I expected to have a lot of emotion,” Paris told The Laker following the meeting. “I can’t believe that in 2010 we can’t find a compromise.”
Despite the atmosphere of the crowd, Carroll did believe a reasonable compromise could be obtained so the project can proceed, while leaving those concerned satisfied.
“We got what we had hoped to out of the meeting,” he said. “It may not have been in the fashion we wanted. The meeting (Jan. 14) was to get input from the people and the best way to do that is to present a concept. Whether people agree with the concept as we have it is one issue that at least gets the discussion going.
“We’ve got the message as far as where some of the interests are in the community as far as walking and the types of access they want. That’s what we came here to get, it maybe didn’t come in the form that was expected.”
Janet Godsell wasn’t holding her breath the concerns voiced at the meeting and in the feedback form will be heard.
“I’m not optimistic at all. We need to get a higher level person then these officials,” she said.
It seems that’s exactly what happened.
A day after the meeting, the Friends of Laurie Park was formed and began brainstorming ideas to spread the message to the community through posters and a petition.
The Friends of Laurie Park doesn’t want to curtail any upgrades at the 65-acre provincial park, it just wants to retain and preserve the current areas of day use with unrestricted access as part of the new plans.
The work, which will close the park for the 2010 summer season, would also mean day use, such as locals taking their kids for a swim, walking their pets or going for a stroll themselves, will all be prohibited once the redevelopment is complete.
Judy Young, who is spokesperson for the group, said they held their first meeting less than 24 hours after the PIM to unveil plans.
She said the objective of the emergency meeting was to discuss what type of avenues they could use to get the message out, get people to spread the word with a deadline of Jan. 22, for feedback to be received.
“The campaign consists of taking advantage of social network groups and technology as well as distributing flyers at Laurie Park over the weekend,” Young said. “Our group wants to retain and preserve the current areas of day use with unrestricted access to be included in the new development plans for Laurie Park”
The group has created a website, which is found at www.savelauriepark.ca, and two social-networking pages, one on Facebook called Save Laurie Park and a twitter feed where updates can be found.
“In addition to this, petitions are being circulated, and letters are being written to those decision makers,” Young explained.
She noted the group isn’t against redevelopment or improvements at the park.
“We do want an opportunity to provide input into something that is such a focal point of our community to ensure its beauty and unrestricted accessibility is preserved,” she said.
On Jan. 20, Paris, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Heritage also issued an update, which is something everyone was talking about at the local coffee shops.
“I have just received word that the conceptual plans for Laurie Park will be revised,” Paris said in his statement, posted to www.savelauriepark.ca. “The new plans will allow year-long walking access and shoreline access to day-users as well as campers. DNR has stated that they have heard the concerns of the community and is now looking into what accommodations can be made for local residents and other day-users.”
MacDonell said DNR will work with the Friends of Laurie Park or whatever community organization that takes the lead regarding park concerns.
“It’s my intention DNR goes back to the community and have a further discussion,” he said. “They’ll work with the community group there that their wishes are incorporated into the plan. I think when it comes to day use, that’s something for the immediate local community.
“It’s my understanding when the Laurie family gave the land to the province, there intention was the community would have access to that and for their good gesture, we would like to ensure that wish is continued.”
Barry Dalrymple, councillor for District 2 (Waverley-Fall River-Beaver Bank), was pleased an agreement could be reached between the two sides. He added it was a result of the quick work of the Friends of Laurie Park with their e-mails, phone calls and letters that helped get DNR to rethink their plans.
“I don’t think I can remember a time when a number of residents have risen up with that type of response,” Dalrymple said. “If we could get that type of a response on other issues, we would be in a much better place. With that said, the response by residents has worked. I spoke with Percy (Paris) last weekend (Jan 16-17) and we were of completely the same mind. We both have been long-time residents that grew up using Laurie Park.
“I think both of us were stunned at the PIM when we heard DNR say day-use at the park would be eliminated. I don’t think either one of us expected to hear that, I don’t think either one of us were prepared for that. I’m not sure how a provincial department can come up with that without advising their MLA. Percy advised he was going to pass on mine and his concerns to the Minister that we did not, in any shape or form, support or agree with ending day-use there.”
phealey@enfieldweeklypress.com