Our Letter to Mayor and Council (Aug 11, 2008)
A Letter sent to the Mayor and Council of the City of Victoria on August 11, 2008
August 11, 2008
To the Mayor and Council of the City of Victoria:
The members of the Cridge Park Rescue Group, along with their many supporters, support the preservation of Cridge Park for several reasons:
Cridge Park is a key component of the City’s “Necklace of Parks” stretching from Dallas Road to the Inner Harbour, including Beacon Hill Park; St, Ann’s; Cridge Park; Thunderbird Park; and the grounds of the Royal BC Museum and the Empress Hotel to the “Welcome to Victoria” sign of the Inner Harbour.
The Cridge Park Rescue Group supports the preservation of Cridge Park as a suitable surrounding for the two significant heritage buildings that flank Cridge Park: the Church of Our Lord, a National Historic Site built in 1875; and the publicly-owned Crystal Garden of 1925, a heritage building of provincial importance. Cridge Park was named for Bishop Cridge, an important pioneer in Victoria’s history, and the founder of the City’s first hospital, orphanage and orchestra, and a social reformer.
The Cridge Park Rescue Group considers the continued presence of the Canadian Pacific Lawn Bowling Club an appropriate and historic use of Cridge Park, as an outdoor exercise and activity centre that has historic connections with both the Empress Hotel and Crystal Garden.
The Cridge Park Rescue Group believes that it is inappropriate for the City to even consider development possibilities for Cridge Park:
- Given the City’s policy of “no net loss” of parkland within an existing neighbourhood, it would be impossible to effectively replace a Downtown Park of this size, with these historic assets and with its critically-important park-linking function.
- The Canadian “Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada” specifies the protection of landscapes that have heritage value in their relationship to historic buildings.
- The Canadian Pacific Lawn Bowling Club has maintained, at their own expense for 78 years, their bowling green. It has served as a downtown focal point in the “City of Gardens” for many years, (though many floral features have been removed by other agencies in recent years, and now need replacing). The Lawn Bowling Club has attracted both tourists and residents alike to their non-commercial downtown activity. With the City’s new tenancy of the Crystal Garden as an adjunct to the Victoria Conference Centre, it is appropriate to recognize this unique Victoria activity as one that Conference delegates will view from their conference venue, and remember from their stay in the City.
- The Inner Harbour view corridor - along Belleville Street - is critical to remain intact. Planned development in this area (Crystal Court site; the Aria) is already encroaching on this view corridor, and the green, treed connection between the Harbour into the St. Ann’s grounds needs careful stewardship and protection.
- Three neighbourhood plans and the Humboldt Valley Plan - all of which overlap at this critical site - repeatedly state that mature trees and greenspace are valued, as are the preservation of heritage buildings and view corridors. Further, the City’s “Development Permit Area 2 (Heritage Conservation), Inner Harbour & Lower Douglas” boundary line is 200 feet away in two directions, and Cridge Park must be considered in context with these existing plans.
The Cridge Park Rescue Group requests that the City abandon any further consideration of development of Cridge Park.
The Cridge Park Rescue Group further requests that the City modify the terms of reference of the consultant hired to review City-owned properties on the Crystal Block to eliminate Cridge Park from their terms of reference, and to focus their attention on the Apex site.
The Cridge Park Rescue Group requests the City to renew the lease of the Canadian Pacific Lawn Bowling Club, in recognition of their increased membership, (nearly tripled) and to give them a long-term lease that will allow them to plan upkeep, membership expansion and further beautification of the Bowling Green.
The Cridge Park Rescue Group further requests the City to reinstate both boulevard and park plantings that have been removed from Cridge Park, and once again, treasure it as the key component of Victoria’s green “Necklace of Parks” that it is.
Sincerely,
David Tones
Chair and Spokesperson
Cridge Park Rescue Group
1101- 788 Humboldt St. Victoria B.C. V8W 4A2
250-298-7939