UPDATE: On Sept. 17, 2018, city council approved Shear Park as the location for Barrie’s third community garden. The Shear Park community garden will be located between its tennis courts and softball field. Shear Park is located at the corner of Innisfil and Holgate streets.
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The city's third community garden could soon sprout at Shear Park in Barrie's Allandale neighbourhood.
Community gardens are already located in Sunnidale Park (2010) and Golden Meadow Park (2012).
According to a city staff report, the gardens are consistently fully rented every year.
In 2018, the Sunnidale garden was fully rented by May 25 and currently has one name on the waiting list. The Golden Meadow garden was fully rented by Jan. 30 and, as of Aug. 21, had three people on a waiting list.
Garden plots are rented at a rate of $20 annually for single plots and $50 for double plots.
Ward 8 Coun. Arif Khan, who represents the area where the city's third community garden would be located, called the recommended Shear Park location “an ideal candidate,” particularly due to the elevated plots that could be situated there.
“Shear Park is one of the parks that was redesigned and built for accessibility, and this really takes this a step farther in terms of the age-friendly community that we talk about and the demographics,” he said. “We are preparing ourselves for the continuation of an age-friendly community and making sure we meet the needs of the public.”
Khan noted that Shear Park, despite its size, had been underutilized in the past.
“This is an opportunity to really use the park to a fuller extent and I look forward to seeing what comes next,” he said. “It’s also a community that is transitioning … with younger generations moving back in.”
Khan called community gardens a “community-building opportunity,” as a way for people to get out and use the park more while also meeting their neighbours.
A final decision on the motion is expected at next week’s city council meeting.
If passed, the garden could go ahead in the fall.
In early March, Urban Pantry, a project under the Canadian Mental Health Association, represented by Naomi Wachowiak of the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, approached city staff with Ontario Trillium Foundation grant funding for the construction of a new community garden.
Five parks were identified as possible locations, including Eastview Community Park, Queens Park, Blair Park, Shear Park and Bear Creek Park, each of which can be reconsider in the future.
