Residents relieved as councillors re-think 'naturalizing' park plan in north-west London

Neighbours living on a small street that runs between Wonderland Road and Medway Creek say common sense prevailed at a City of London committee that voted against naturalizing and paving a trail through the park behind their homes.

The Planning and Environment Committee was tasked Tuesday with approving changes to Attawandaron Park so it met the city's Environmentally Significant Area (ESA) plan.

The purpose of the ESA is to restore the land by covering it in native trees, shrubs and plants, and in this case, a paved trail would be built to run the length of the park.

But it would also see a fence along the property lines, without gate access for residents. Planners working on the ESA proposal have discovered that some residents would lose meters off their backyard, as the lines have shifted in residents' favour over the years.

In an unusual move, the five councillors on the committee voted unanimously to have staff update the master plan which governs the ESA to remove the proposed trail section of Attawandaron Park, and take no further action on implementing it.

"We're extremely happy that common sense prevailed," Paul Schmidt said. "Over the course of the past year we haven't felt heard at all, frankly, by city staff, but [on Tuesday] we certainly felt heard by the councillors."

Schmidt, who has lived on Attawandaron Road since 2003 and is a member of the neighbourhood association, advocated to keep the park in its current state. He doesn't think the plan for the trail was feasible because the narrowing of the park would make accessibility requirements hard to meet.

Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis agreed, putting the motion on the committee floor to backtrack the city's plans. Costly archaeological evaluations and slope stabilization measures would be necessary prior to building the trail through that section, he explained.

"I'm not convinced, actually, that this is a good use of taxpayer money to spend on feasibility studies to find out we cannot do this anyway."

Coun. Sam Trosow represents the area but is not on the committee, so could not vote on the motion that will eventually come to council for a final decision.

He said he wants more information on how this would impact the broader master plan governing the ESA, which has been in the works for many years, warning it could trigger a much longer process.

"I think we have to be very, very careful not to undo decisions that have previously been made and embodied in the master plan that we're going to have to revisit," Trosow said.

The other issue of property lines moving over the years to take over park land was not addressed as part of the committee meeting, and the Sept. 2 deadline to remove encroachments still stands.

For now, the community is happy with the decision to maintain the park, which is the biggest issue right now, Schmidt said.

Full council is expected to vote on the committee's decision on August 26 at 1 p.m.