Presentation to Victoria City Council
by Stuart Stark
For the Cridge Park Rescue Group
Thursday August 21, 2008

Your Worship and Members of City Council:

I am Stuart Stark and I represent the Cridge Park Rescue Group - over 25 community groups ranging from Neighbourhood groups to a Credit Union, from Strata Councils to Sports Groups.

Ten years ago, when St. Ann’s Academy had been rescued and restored, politicians of every stripe and from every level of government who had participated in that great project, commented on how amazing it was that - in this day and age - any City in North America was able to add six acres of parkland to their downtown area - as Victoria had been able to do.  Development on the grounds of St. Ann’s Academy was not deemed to be desirable, and development was therefore transferred to “Y” lot where the Marriot, Belvedere and Astoria now stand, in order to save this important green space.

Much was made at the time, of the connection and creation of a “Necklace of Parks” stretching from Dallas Road, through Beacon Hill Park and the St. Ann’s Grounds, through Cridge Park and Thunderbird Park and through the grounds of the Royal BC Museum and the Empress to the “Welcome to Victoria” sign on the Inner Harbour. It was a great accomplishment.

Cridge Park has been a Park on the City’s books since 1929. It has served its function well.  The Lawn Bowling Club has maintained their green at their own expense for the last 78 years, and the Park has provided an important and appropriate setting for the two significant heritage buildings that flank the Park - the 1875 National Historic Site of the Church of Our Lord, and the 1925 Crystal Garden, of both national and provincial importance.

So why are we here this evening?  Why are all these groups here questioning the status of Cridge Park?

It is because this City Council has been promoting the development of Cridge Park - a Park for ninety years - behind closed doors.

On January 28, 2008, a number of the Canadian Pacific Lawn Bowling Club planning committee members met with Victoria City Mayor Alan Lowe, City Manager Penny Ballantyne and members of the city’s Parks and Recreation staff to get clarification of the rumours that the CPLBC lawn bowling green lease may be in jeopardy.  The mayor indicated that nothing had been decided at that time, but other options for use of the property were being considered.

Just over two weeks later - On February 14, City Council met in a closed meeting and were presented with this document “Crystal Block Planning Options”.  This 40 page document, prepared by the Planning Department of the City, is full of carefully-drawn up plans showing various density proposals for Cridge Park, ranging from simply adding a truck lane across the historic Lawn Bowling Green to 7, 9, 11 and 13 story residential and commercial towers.

Three weeks later, on March 6, now in an open meeting, Council’s Committee of the Whole again looked at this document, which is when average citizens first became aware of it. Committee of the Whole gave the “Crystal Block Planning Options” Report “support in principle” at that meeting.

But that same day, March 6, The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria wrote a letter to the Mayor and the Committee of the Whole “expressing our deepest appreciation for this recent decision that you have made concerning the Crystal Gardens Block. After searching for a downtown location for many years, this is great news.”

So what discussions had taken place before the public became aware of Development proposals for Cridge Park?

The wording of that “Options Report” is very strange. At no point in the report is Cridge Park - and it has been “Cridge Park” in City planning documents and City maps since 1929 - at no point is it referred to as “Cridge Park” but simply as a “Green”, sounding somehow “underutilized’ and ‘empty’ - possibly ripe for redevelopment?

Moreover in that report is this quote: and listen carefully to this gem:

“With near-by Saint Ann’s, Thunderbird Park, and Beacon Hill Park, this area of Victoria is served with several open spaces. As a general principle, removed public greens may be replaced in areas short of such spaces.”

So does this mean that City Council’s own policy of “No-net-loss” for removed Parks - (recently applied when Council decided to build a homeless shelter on Ellice Park) would not apply here, because there are “several open spaces” in the area? So does that mean that if you are in a neighbourhood blessed with Parks, that Council can take it away and not replace it? For that is what that clause says.

So the great legacy of the “Necklace of Parks” finally linked by the grounds of St. Ann’s 10 years ago, is suddenly of no account? Something citizens worked for 20 years to preserve? And great efforts were made with development transfer agreements to “Y” lot in order to preserve the open space at St. Ann’s?

Just what is going on?

City council has professed in letters to supporters of the Lawn Bowling Club that this process would be transparent and open.

It is not and it has not been.

Who authorized the City Planning Department to look at developing City Parks for any purpose?  What resources were expended to compile a 40 page planning document for such a development?  The citizens of Victoria obviously have a blind faith that Parks are there in perpetuity as permanent green spaces for the citizens of this City.

City Council is still continuing on this path of considering development on the Park.  They have engaged Collier’s Vancouver office to look at the commercial development options that Cridge Park presents.

This action is a continued and unwarranted attack on the values that citizens of Victoria hold dear.

Thank you.