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Manotick News Proudly serving the community

November 21, 2013 | 28 pages

Emma Jackson emma.jackson@metroland.com

ARTS

Manotick’s Main Street is the perfect place for a pop-up art gallery called Collage and Colour. -Page 9

SPORTS

St. Francis Xavier and St. Mark high schools come up against each other in a race to the top. -Page 18

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Greely park plan divides residents BMX, skateboard plans causing alarm

Remembrance Day services were held throughout the area and in rural Ottawa South on Nov. 11. -Page 2

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News – Tensions were high as Greely residents debated the merits of a new community park planned beside the Water’s Edge residential development last week. City park planner Jennifer Hemmings and landscape architect Jerrold Corush presented the plan to develop the 6.5 hectare plot of land south of Parkway Road on the east side of Bank Street on Nov. 13. The group of about 70 residents was generally pleased by the plan that includes tennis courts, a soccer field, green space and a playground. But the meeting grew tense when Georges Bedard, president of the Water’s Edge Owners Association, made his own presentation decrying the city’s plan to add skateboard and BMX facilities in the park’s north-west corner. He took issue with the city’s photos of clean, green BMX trails, and proceeded to show photos of a newly installed BMX park in Barrhaven that looked like nothing more than weedy dirt piles. He also showed photos of Ottawa skateboard parks covered in graffiti. “We don’t want this in our community,� Bedard told the crowd. “We feel it is inappropriate because it’s all going to be residential around it.� The plan for the Greely Village Centre commercial development west of the park has replaced much of its commercial plans with 62 adult lifestyle

units as well as a seniors’ residence. That means the BMX and skateboard facilities could back onto residential land rather than parking or arena facilities as was originally planned. That proposal - which has not been approved by the city - only came to light once park plans were in full swing, said Corush. Bedard said he would rather see the BMX facility placed in Andy Shields Park behind the community centre, because that’s a more central location. But Hemmings said the facility was purposely located close to Parkway Road so that it would be better lit and under the watchful eye of passing traffic. Andy Shields wouldn’t provide those added benefits. “There aren’t as many eyes on the park in that area,� Hemmings said. “You want those facilities in a very visible location.� While Corush noted the plan is flexible, he said he would rather work with the community to create a buy-in than move the BMX facility elsewhere in the park or village. “I don’t see any of the facilities as being non-compatible with what is going to go on the other side,� Corush said. Marty McSweeney agreed. As a member of the Ottawa BMX and Nepean BMX groups, he called out Bedard’s allegations that all BMX facilities end up looking seedy. McSweeney played a key role in building the Barrhaven site, and said the photos are misleading because the project was only finished this summer. He added it was built entirely by volunteers with no money from the city. That’s a stark contrast to the Greely plan, which has access to a $2 million budget and professional landscapers. See PARK, page 3

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Overcoming obstacles Alexandra Fair, 8, carries her cement-laden feet through an obstacle course at a PD Day camp at Watson’s Mill on Nov. 15. The camp was mystery themed, and the obstacle course was meant to mimic the agility spies must possess to best their enemies. Kids crawled through dark tunnels, avoided deadly laser beams and even swung across a lake of lava to get to the end of the course.

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