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◗ THE CHANGING CITY
New park irks priest Pastor of Holy Spirit Church questions why dirt mound was placed in front of his home BY ANDREW FLEMING REPORTER afleming@royalcityrecord.com
While the new all-wheel park in Queensborough has fast become a rolling success with local skateboaders, BMXers, mountain bikers and inline skaters, not everyone is a fan. Rev. David P. Hughes of the neighbouring Holy Spirit Church certainly isn’t. He’s upset that the view from his home is now blocked by a large mound of earth constructed to help bikers catch air. “I’m not opposed to it on principle, I just don’t understand that since they had 12,000 square feet to build it, they had to build a big hill right in front of my house,” said Hughes. “Anybody who walks “Anybody who into my house says, ‘What in God’s name walks into my have they done?’ I simply don’t want to house says, see people looking ‘What in God’s into my window every name have they time I look out. I have a five-and-a-half-foot done?’” hedge fence, and it’s four feet higher than REV. DAVID HUGHES that.” Queensborough resident He says the artificial mound, the highest point in the park, was built only a few feet from his Lawrence Street home’s property line. “I just cannot understand a designer designing something that big in front of someone’s house. … Having witnessed various groups of people standing on top of this mound of earth looking at my house and just laughing, I believe that this has been done deliberately, to provoke. Is this anti-Catholic? I can’t prove that, of course, but you can’t help but wonder.” Dean Gibson, the city’s director of parks, culture and recreation, said the location of the mound was chosen to avoid cutting down trees or being too near utility poles.
Photos by Larry Wright/THE RECORD
“The area in question is part of the dirt track Upset: Rev. David Hughes of Holy Spirit Church isn’t happy about the portion for bikers,” Gibson explained. “Because mound of dirt from the new all-wheel park next to his house in Queensthe whole facility was built from the ground up borough. Below, workers at the park.
– we couldn’t dig down to build it – there’s a certain amount of distance necessary in order for riders to get the speed they need to get air on their bikes, and this particular area was chosen because it was at a gap in a row of trees and utility poles.” Gibson said that every effort was made to get feedback and input from local residents well before construction began on the park, part of a larger $5-million redevelopment project for Queensborough’s parks being led by Richard Findlay Landscape Architect Ltd. “(Hughes) only became aware of what we were doing when we hand-delivered letters to residents who had properties that bordered around the park itself, which was a standard courtesy letter to let residents know construction of the all-wheel park would be starting up in the next few days and that we’ll be making every effort to comply with noise bylaws,” said Gibson. “Unfortunately, that was the first that he
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