The town is moving ahead with the construction of the Raspberry Park Toboggan Hill, an idea recently spearheaded by the Lions Club.
Located at 53 Avenue and 37 Street, the recreation feature will be 4.5 metres at its peak with the plateau extending six metres wide. The hill will slope down at a gentle one-to-three ratio, spreading 33 metres wide at the base.
About 20 people attended a public open house held at council chambers Dec. 3. While the majority of attendees spoke in favour of the hill, created with dirt donated by Malcolm Contracting Ltd., a few were opposed.
“It's a nice peaceful area there,” said Marilyn Henderson, a 65-year-old area resident. “There's gotta be better areas to disrupt.”
She said her view of folks walking leisurely through the park will be disrupted with the construction of the hill.
“That park serves a good use,” she said. “I sit in my front room chair and watch people go by.”
Councillors Brian Spiller and Mark Kemball were on hand to take heed of public input, and Larrie Davis and Bob McKinnie represented the Lions Club and answered questions about the development.
Gerry and Laura Miller also spoke out against the project.
“What's wrong with green areas? There's very few of them,” Laura Miller said. “So then if there's a piece of land, then somebody has to do something with it all the time.”
The couple also expressed concern about poor drainage and requested a water table study be ordered before moving ahead with the plan, noting pools of water visible in the area at certain times of year.
“There's issues in that area,” Miller said. “I think we might be asking for more grief than it's worth.”
Terry Welsh, the town's director of recreation, said drainage would not be altered much by increasing elevation on one section of the park.
“Snow doesn't fall to any greater degree on the hill than on a flat surface,” he said. “We didn't look at the wooded area outside the park boundaries.”
He added he was glad to see so many engaged citizens participating in the discussion.
“Overall the reaction was very favourable to the proposal,” he said. “Council could just have authorized the project. We wanted to ensure we allowed the residents to speak.”
"I think we might be asking for more grief than it's worth."Laura MillerInnisfail resident
