A plan to change the name of Gil Maure Park in LaSalle is not sitting well with the family of that man it's named after.
On July 12, LaSalle Council will consider a recommendation to rename Gil Maure Park, Front Road Park and Riverdance Park to Petite Côte Waterfront.
The new name would be for the town's nearly $50-million waterfront project, the LaSalle Small Coast Waterfront. It would include a mix use of indoor and outdoor space, a walkable parkland, a 30,000 square foot event centre at the former Westport Marina site, splash pads, and a sports zone.
But Rolly Maure, the grandson of Gilbert Maure, is not pleased with the plan to get rid of his family's name on the property after receiving notice of the proposal on June 30.
"They are telling us because of the scope and size of this, they want to keep it under one umbrella name," he says. "They decide that Gil Maure Park is not good enough for them and they have to change it to Petite Côte, which to me is kind of silly."
Photo courtesy: Town of LaSalle
Gil Maure Park was named after Gilbert Maure, who owned the property and built a house on the land. Maure died in 1970, and the Town purchased approximately 3.6 acres of land from the Maure family in 1980. That, combined with land purchased in 1977 from another family, would become Gil Maure Park through Council Resolution in 1994 at the request of the Maure family. With the recent purchases of land made along the waterfront, the new parkland is now approximately 59 acres in size.
Maure says they want council to keep the name Gil Maure Park and rename items inside the park.
"Petite Côte would be very nice as a restaurant or a ball room dancing spot inside of Gil Maure Park," he says.
The town is recommending Gil Maure be recognized within the event centre with the community room named after him and the family.
Maure says the family feels it's a bit of a slap in the face to lose the park name and have it replaced with a sign above a room inside a building.
"That doesn't seem to cut the mustard," he says. "For us to be able to build up some kind of defence to save our park, we were allowed one week before this decision is to be made on Tuesday."
The Maure family is asking members of the public to contact the town to get on the agenda for the July 12 meeting to speak out against plans to rename the park.