To further the conversation happening about the Rossglen Park project that has begun on the inflation post, I have put together the best "before" photo I could find of Rossglen park, alongside a current photo taken today.
Important note - these photos are obviously taken at different times of the year. The current photo taken in April (bottom), the before photo taken in the month of July a few years ago (top). That said, since this project began two years ago, the irrigation has been off in the park and the grass is dead and brown by July anyways.
This discussion began because residents are wondering how the City can justify projects like this that are unnecessary, when they are proposing a 61% tax increase over the course of the next five years.
This Rossglen park project began June 2023 with the removal of two trees that I was able to date back to likely the 1940s-50s (through the rossland museum). Those trees were deemed to need removal by an arborist who also received the contract from the city to remove them.
The city has stated that through public engagement the community wanted a gazebo or something of the sorts, in this park. To date I have never seen this public engagement report despite asking for it. I have spoken to many residents who live around this park or who used to frequent this park, not one person I spoke to was involved in this public engagement. I couldn't find a single person who lives in this neighbourhood who wanted this gazebo.
The project budget has changed over time.
The project has taken nearly two years - for comparison, the new city hall and apartment complex took two years start to finish. Its a flipping gazebo! This orange fence has been up at this park for TWO YEARS.
My family purchased the house that we did with one of the prime selling points being this park. Over the course of a decade we watched hundreds of people, families, children every year enjoy this park. Birthday parties, bbqs, community gatherings, yoga, bike lessons, soccer games, community meetings, celebrations, slackliners, outdoor enthusiasts, bird watchers. . . . the list goes on and on of the people who used to use this park on a daily basis.
Now it is rare that we see people over there. Our family went from using and enjoying this park everyday in the spring/summer/fall to never using - its not even a consideration anymore. We travel outside of Rossland now for green space enjoyment.
I have been in contact numerous times with the city over the course of two years inquiring about the status of this project. Time and again I hear from them "the project has been delayed" "we know its frustrating" "it will be aesthetically pleasing when its done"...... But I have yet to see the city take any accountability whatsoever of the destruction of this green space and the fact that it has taken TWO YEARS to build a gazebo that is not even done and atleast half of this park has been barricaded off for that time period.
I don't think much of the community is aware that this has happened / is happening. I have spoken to many people who don't know where this park is. But I assure you - this park was cherished by our community for a very very long time, and I think that the value that this park once had in our community has not been honoured in the process of this project.
Also worth noting - there does not seem to be any information about this project currently available on the city website - there is a spot for it to be, but the information is not there.
I notice now that I posted this, it is difficult to see the orange metal fence.
Surrounding the entire construction site, just to the right of the picnic table in the lower picture, all the way to the parking lot on the far right that you can't see, is an ugly bright orange metal fence that has been up for two years.
I remember that around 6 months after the projetc broke ground, the cuty council had a meeting and they mentioned that costs had risen by $120k and so needed to increase the budget for the project.
Seriously... the original budget with the extra design costs came to around a quarter of a million dollars for a sun shade.
Being that they want to increase our taxes by 10% annually and then spend that amount on a vanity project seems totally insane. We live on a street that has had a pot hole that is increasing every day and now so bad you have to drive around for 5 years and even though we have asked several times for a repair they simple say it is not in the budget.
Were is the accountability with this city and the councilors? I was never asked about the Rossglen park, if any one was asked I would like to know and how it was done.
This council is out of control being that you can attend a meetting and speak for 2 minutes but they do not respond even with a written answer.
It is amazing how they took a naturally beautiful park with mature trees that gave wonderful shade from the sun in summer and totally destroyed it for a concrete structure. This is made worse given that concrete production adds so much CO2 to the enviroment via it's production...410 kg of CO2 per cubic meter of concrete
My daughter and I still frequent this park regularly as it is the only one within walking distance.
Completely agree that a gazebo is a waste of taxpayer funds. I would have much preferred the money be used to upgrade the playground equipment which is of the era that I played with going to school and is therefore falling apart and becoming dangerous (not to mention the constant issue of the broken glass in the soil).
It is sad that despite paying more taxes than residents in Trail, I have to take my toddler down to Trail to find an age appropriate playground experience.
What a shame, how counter productive. It was fine the way it was. Ask the city how does the unnecessary destruction of a nice greenspace factor into their Climate action plan, sustainability issues and ideological net zero goals by 2050? Personally I resent taxes going up when our tax dollars are being wasted on pointless projects.
Liam - I am really happy to hear that you and your daughter still frequent and enjoy the park. It has saddened me so much to see the dramatic decline in kids playing over there and people in general not using the park much at all anymore.
The playground is interesting. While I do agree it needs to be addressed asap, I had heard that it was going to be replaced with one of those recycled rubber structures, which I feel would be a disgrace to what this play space offers our kids. Have you ever driven through Greenwood and seen their amazing modern
wooden playground? I think replacing this old hazardous playground with a wooden, natural, play space would honour what this park and green space has always offered - a place for nature-based play and gathering. I suppose with the shiny new concrete gazebo we have already lost that anyways.
As for glass, this used to be an old garbage dump back in the day. I have photos from ten years ago of my kids collecting bucketfuls of glass from there. It's always been a hazard, and I don't know how this would be fixed to be honest.
The city has also said they will replant trees, but again, I fear that what they have planned does not align with the value our community and park users see in this park and green space.
I am happy to see a discussion happening about this. It has been upsetting to many of us for a long time, and most of us feel that the city isn't listening or caring about what residents want here.
So the actual cost was over $360,000 for this sun shade and the council didnt even ask for opinions on this.
How could this structure erupt from the original $120,000... I think one of the coucil menbers need to come on here and explain what happened and why were the tax payers not informed
Is that to date, or to complete? There is still work on the roof to complete and the landscaping to finish. Plus repairs/cleanup to the bike park access where excess fill was dropped.
Cleverpanda, where did you find that info? I scoured the city website and everything they had on there is gone. $360,000 is actually fucking insane.
The City didn't even bother responding to my inquiry, but then again, as far as I have heard they don't answer emails to residents anymore.
The project is definitely not complete, and despite the fact that the park has been snow free for weeks, no work is currently happening.
It was on a city update email my wife had, i will get a copy later when i get home. I don't think that includes the final finish and clean up
It was on one of the pages of the City's 'Public Consulation to consider the draft five-year financial plan' on May 5th. However, the email had a link to the web, and the document has been changed, omitting that particular page. (You have to sign up to get emails from the City.)
II was on an email that had the link below but the document has been updated and the costing info removed -
https://lwuy6dbbb.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001gUm_RnNQhNsLgOMl_IIxemRLJatJz2L...
The city has allocated $100k for clean up
Maybe we need to do an information request if they are going to remove and hide parts of a report. This has definately been cleaned and the Rossglen folder on the city web site has been emptied also
This is baffling and makes me loose confidence in the City's ability to be fiscally responsible and manage taxpayer funds prudently. This is especially concerning in the face of enormous proposed tax increases that will, make no mistake about it, change the diversity of ages and incomes currently in the City of Rossland. The contrast between the photos speaks volumes.
Where a gazebo or shelter is really needed is on the Davis side of the ball park between Cook and Kootenay. This is an extremely busy area that offers a single bench. There is no shelter from the sun, wind, rain or snow for children being picked up and dropped off daily by school buses. The area has near constant activity from ball, soccer and other children and adults' games, dog walkers, etc. and that end of the park is popular in the winter with families tobogganing. A gazebo would be a game changer there. This is one of the most high profile blocks in the City. It should look a little better and have more amenities (benches, etc.) especially given, it seems 99.5% of the City's annual flowerbed landscaping is north of Columbia St.
Perhaps the Rossglen park gazebo should be moved where it is really needed, however nothing can bring back mature trees and their shade. Maybe what happened is they built the gazebo in the wrong place and that is why there is no evidence of consultation. What a blunder that has taxpayers picking up the tab. Another $100k. On what? Outrageous.
Oops, 'lose'.
I live below the Rossglen park and have watched the construction process for the gazebo for the last two years.. First they chopped down the trees, then they excavated a larger than necessary hole. They put an orange metal fence around it and we had to look at that for an entire summer. The concrete foundation pour and construction of the gazebo only started as the snow started falling. Now that the weather is nice the whole process has stalled again. Eventually we will have a gazebo in the park, maybe attracting more people into the park, but ironically, they haven't built a toilet for these people. Even Without the new gazebo, people go to the toilet over the bank or ask the neighbours if they can use their toilet. Oh, also, the playground equipment is very old and made of wood and the kids get slivers from It. All we needed was new playground equipment and a toilet.
I live below the Rossglen park and have watched the construction process for the gazebo for the last two years.. First they chopped down the trees, then they excavated a larger than necessary hole. They put an orange metal fence around it and we had to look at that for an entire summer. The concrete foundation pour and construction of the gazebo only started as the snow started falling. Now that the weather is nice the whole process has stalled again. Eventually we will have a gazebo in the park, maybe attracting more people into the park, but ironically, they haven't built a toilet for these people. Even Without the new gazebo, people go to the toilet over the bank or ask the neighbours if they can use their toilet. Oh, also, the playground equipment is very old and made of wood and the kids get slivers from It. All we needed was new playground equipment and a toilet.
I received a response from the City yesterday. The person I am in contact with was away for two weeks, which explained the delay.
Here is what I was told:
"The original budget for the project was $180,280. In September 2023, Council authorized an additional $113,351 in funding toward the project after a failed RFP bid, bringing the total budget to $293,630. A final budget change was made for the 2024 budget to up the total allocation to the project to $359,969 to allow for additional geotechnical concerns to be addressed.