The residents of Lakeshore have spoken, and a park will be saved as a result.
Council met Tuesday evening, where a notice of motion by mayor Tracey Bailey was presented to withdraw and reconsider an Expression of Interest (EOI) looking to develop on parkland at Oakwood Park.
The EOI was in partnership with Lakeshore Horizon as they look to develop on publicly-owned properties lands in Lakeshore to increase housing supply, and commercial developments.
Six delegates attended Tuesday's meeting, with a similar message among those who spoke: don't touch our park, and don't touch parkland in Lakeshore for development.
Many of the councillors apologized to those in the gallery - which was at capacity with roughly 30 residents in attendance - stating that there should have been more transparency before the EOI was posted, and more notification regarding council's intentions.
The EOI drew heavy backlash from the public and nearby residents to the park, who stated they were not notified about the potential to see development at Oakwood Park. A public information meeting held by Lakeshore Horizon last week was quickly derailed by frustrated residents.
The motion put forward by the mayor looked to cancel the process and fully cancel the EOI. The motion also indicated, that with support from Lakeshore Horizon, enhancing the Municipal Land Policy to protect and preserve parkland, and to ensure transparency and community input with future decisions.
The motion passed 7-1, with only councillor John Kerr opposed to the motion.
Olivia Rondeau was one of the delegates at the meeting, and created a petition against the EOI which received over 2,200 signatures.
She says it was insulting to see comments that the park was not used.
"I would love to see the statistics on that and the study that was done because it was very clear that that was never done. I conducted my own study, like I said, I looked in my back window for 20 years and I see that park largely used. It was never unused. And I started a petition that had over 1,000 signatures, so if they wanted to hear the voices they could've just went door-to-door and asked but they chose not to."
Rondeau says council took a stand because the public took a stand.
"I think they apologized because the heat was on. If they really cared, they would've been proactive about it and not reactive about it. So, it's great that the motion was passed but I think there needs to be more transparency for sure and less backyard dealings."
Luke Laforest was a delegate at the meeting. He says this was very personal to him.
"My home is just a few minutes down the road from Oakwood Park, and I really wanted to make sure that it stayed protected as part of my community. We found out about this through a Facebook post, it wasn't like somebody came to our door and let us know. So, we really mobilized as a community and ensured that we could get something done, and have our voices heard."
Laforest says there are plenty of other areas to build, including near the Atlas Tube Recreation Centre.
"The Atlas Tube isn't quite connected to the community, there's a walking trail with one entrance and one exit, now we could definitely get that connected better in the community and develop those lands. It would be nice to see some development around there, more walkable trails, more in touch with nature instead of building on these parklands."
Councillor Kelsey Santarossa says public consultation would've came after the EOI closed... saving the municipality a step.
"We fast tracked, we could've had an EOI, we could've had a developer come forward and say, 'let's see if we can do something creative'... I do not doubt for a minute that all of the feedback that we got tonight and that we've seen online would've been the exact same. So we would've gone, 'okay, no thank you, this is not what the community wants, let's see if we can pivot and take a look elsewhere'... so thank you for helping us speed through that process."
Councillor Ian Ruston says this is what democracy is all about.
"Coming in, having positive dialogue and talking. We respect that, everybody up here, any one of us will talk to any individual when called upon. We don't have to agree, but we can have positive dialogue. Your petition, all that stuff, that's all democracy... we respect all of that."
Councillor Kerr stated to AM800 News that he opposed the motion as he wished the language was clearer in stating that no park in Lakeshore will ever be considered for development, which was not accepted as a friendly amendment.
The updated Municipal Land Policy is expected to be presented to Lakeshore council at a later date.