I would like to make a comment about the planned changes to the small grassy lot behind the children’s club on Lucille Drive.
While in the last year, mostly due to COVID, the use of this plot of land has been sparse, it had been heavily used in years past for recreational purposes by many people in the neighbourhood.
There were children from the children’s club who used this area most afternoons after school and during the day there was a yoga group doing their exercises. Parents would use this space to allow children to run around and play. On the weekend, there were frequently families using this green space for picnics. Overall, this small piece of grass was actually heavily used for recreational purposes.
Now there is a proposal to convert this to garden spaces. While I am in full support of gardening, as I am an avid gardener, I worry about having a space given to a very small number of people to allow them to garden, while a large number of people will lose their recreational space.
As we continue with endless densification in Central Saanich, we have ended up with properties so small that children can no longer run around or even throw a ball without damaging something. Recreational spaces where a child can run and a ball can be thrown are rapidly disappearing.
So, how about placing the garden plots on the west side of the baseball field. This is a wasted space. All of the benefits of the Lucille Drive location apply to this location without removing valuable recreational space for the children in our neighbourhood.
Alex Apouchtine
Brentwood Bay
