Driving previous Bonnerworth Park early within the morning on Dec. 7, residents would have caught a glimpse of a full-sized Grinch caricature tied to the fence now surrounding the development website.
Seeming to mock Mayor Jeff Leal for having “stolen” Bonnerworth Park, the Grinch on this occasion carried a sack marked “Leal” with a tragic, bare-branched twig of a tree adorned with festive colored wiffle balls.
Fourteen pickleball courts — down from 16 — in addition to a brand new pump bike observe and renovated skate park, are set to interchange the 2 baseball diamonds and present tennis courts at Bonnerworth Park to the tune of $4.4 million set to be accomplished in fall of 2025.
Anybody watching the Peterborough Metropolis Council assembly of Oct. 23, 2023 could be forgiven for not anticipating that the unanimous determination to endorse the Monaghan Street and McDonnel Road park redevelopment, as outlined in a Parks and Outside Recreation Services Examine, would lead to one of the vital divisive native information tales of 2024.
Protesters carry placards in opposition to the redevelopment of Bonnerworth Park throughout a July pickleball match held on the park.
Clifford Skarstedt Metroland
Since March, greater than 8,100 residents signed a petition opposing the event and spurred a gaggle of residents to include and try (unsuccessfully) to convey ahead an injunction to cease the event — elevating greater than $43,000 within the course of.
However tuning in from Québec Metropolis, the place I used to be in the midst of attending a big union convention, the assembly didn’t appear particularly outstanding. I recall discussing the prospect of constructing 16 pickleball courts with my colleagues again in Peterborough, and whereas we tended to agree that it appeared like quite a bit, severe consideration of the matter was shortly forgotten through the regular information cycle.
That was till March when the plan for Bonnerworth was made public and the fact of what 16 pickleball courts appeared like set in.
This text comes as Bonnerworth Park has been closed to the general public since early November and building continues. The story is unfolding because the group group Associates of Bonnerworth Park re-evaluates authorized choices to problem the event, whereas the mayor and metropolis solicitor publicly name into query the legitimacy of the group’s claims.
After greater than a yr, it’s clear the story of Bonnerworth Park is much from over. There’s an energetic Fb group dedicated to “saving” Bonnerworth, and the newly integrated Associates of Bonnerworth Park, have dedicated to holding the town to account as the development continues and past that when the courts are lastly accomplished.
John Gerelus, a member of the Coalition to Save Bonnerworth Park, affords Peterborough Mayor Jeff Leal an opportunity to talk throughout a September rally outdoors metropolis corridor in opposition to the redevelopment of the park. Gerelus would later current the mayor with a petition containing 8,100 signatures.
Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay Metroland
‘Sixteen courts is a great start’
The seeds of discontent had been planted early within the public dialogue on the plan to develop pickleball amenities within the metropolis.
On Oct. 23, Bruce Bozec, then-president of the Peterborough Pickleball Affiliation, and later a member of the town’s arenas, parks and recreation advisory committee, instructed councillors that “16 courts is a great start.”
“This is our Field of Dreams,” Bozec continued, pointing to the potential of tens of hundreds of {dollars} of financial influence the development of those courts might convey to the town.
That very same night, delegate Ken Towle performed recordings of pickleball noises from his telephone for councillors, claiming that that is what he might hear from his dwelling when the pickleball courts at Knights of Columbus Park had been in use.
“It drives me literally insane,” Towle mentioned. “Google ‘pickleball noise.’ You’ll see I’m not alone.”
Looking back, Towle’s protest appears quaint — particularly to those that have actively lined and reported on nearly each public protest in opposition to the park’s redevelopment to this point. It was an indication of what was to come back.
Coun. Alex Bierk, Coun. Pleasure Lachica and Coun. Keith Riel stand on the steps of metropolis corridor to greet a big rally of individuals involved in regards to the deliberate redevelopment of Bonnerworth Park.
Joelle Kovach Metroland
‘Let’s not get it twisted’
On March 21, the town held a public session and drop-in session the place officers hoped to obtain suggestions from the group on the way forward for Bonnerworth Park. This was the primary time the general public had seen the preliminary match plans for the redevelopment venture, which was to incorporate a renovated skate park and the addition of a motorbike pump observe.
The match plan included the promised 16 pickleball courts and 80 parking spots and revealed for the primary time for a lot of residents the extent to which the footprint of the pickleball courts would shift the composition of the park.
That is regardless of the existence of what metropolis employees would later name a “concept plan” — offered by Richmond Hill-based landscaping agency Panorama Planning Inc. — that existed way back to April of 2023, however the tough design had not been shared with councillors previous to the approval of the plan.
Councillor Keith Riel mentioned throughout a gathering of common committee on April 2 that he was “gobsmacked by how much city council was kept in the dark about our whole recreation program and how our taxpayer dollars were being spent.”
“Some councillors will state that city council okayed these plans — which is a blatant lie,” he continued, occurring to state that he felt council’s authority had been usurped by “unelected city staff and advisory groups.”
The assembly noticed the primary of two unsuccessful makes an attempt by Coun. Pleasure Lachica to introduce a movement that may have requested employees to discover various pickleball and tennis options and to press pause on the Bonnerworth redevelopment plan.
“I encourage council to listen to our constituents and our local residents,” Lachica mentioned, asking that the wants of all park customers be thought of in any subsequent determination by council.
Nevertheless, it was the feedback that night from Coun. Alex Bierk that may spur what would show to be probably the most memorable debate of the yr at metropolis corridor.
“Let’s not get it twisted — I’m not against pickleball,” Bierk mentioned, earlier than suggesting the mayor’s spouse had as soon as provided to lend him a racket.
The following alternate has been recounted quite a few occasions since in information reviews, editorials, and round kitchen tables — the mayor, rightfully upset by means of a member of the family’s title; Bierk, apologetic however strident in his refusal to take the mayor’s off-mic insistence that he “would regret” his feedback laying down.
The “Thanksgiving turkey,” menace would come to outline the tenor of the Bonnerworth debate. It has been a saga of public discourse that has been known as “nasty,” “heated,” and “harsh,” with some members of council calling the method “ugly” and “vindictive.”
The following day, after confirming what I heard with three councillors, together with Bierk himself, I reported on the affair in Arthur newspaper, the place I used to be an editor earlier than becoming a member of the Examiner as a reporter later in the summertime.
I used to be the one journalist who heard the comment within the second and was, consequently, the primary to report on it. After I revealed the piece, I discovered that Leal’s actions that April night had led to a flurry of complaints to Peterborough’s integrity commissioner, Man Giorno.
‘Everything’s already been permitted’
The redevelopment would spur protests over the summer time, which included taunting chants, singalongs with established native musicians, residents in turkey-garb, and elaborate units organized with the iconography of your complete affair.
The brand new plan included 14 pickleball courts, fewer parking areas, and an space reserved for an open garden space.
Bruce Bozec, now a member of APRAC and who had practically a yr earlier hailed the earlier plan as a “great start” pressed the town and designers on whether or not it might be potential to wrest the area designated for one of many accessible courts to supply for an additional courtroom.
“The majority of the people that have contacted me have said they would rather see that number increase and maybe eliminate an accessible court so that one accessible could become two, so at least we get it up to 15,” he mentioned.
“We are not being asked to approve anything,” co-chair of parks and recreation, Coun. Lesley Parnell reminded committee members. “Everything’s already been approved. The (main) project, moving forward, has been approved by council.”
Save Bonnerworth Park protester Franz Klingender leaves an indication on a bit of perimeter fencing after the park closed to public entry in November for building.
Clifford Skarstedt Metroland
‘Not a done deal’
“Not a done deal,” one signal specifically learn. And for a few week that appeared potential.
Early reviews, based mostly on a replica of the appliance, had it that the matter was to be heard on Nov. 25 within the Ontario Superior Court docket of Justice — but it surely was not meant to be.
In a stunning flip, the group’s lawyer was identified with terminal most cancers and the courtroom date was revealed to be inaccurate — owing to what the Associates of Bonnerworth Parks known as a “clerical error,” whereas metropolis solicitor David Potts known as the date “fake” when pressed for readability by the mayor throughout an early December assembly of council.
As I write, giant piles of concrete and grime sit underneath a skinny layer of snow in late-December the place the wide-open lawns of Bonnerworth Park as soon as had been.
After 14 months of reporting on this story, it’s evident that everybody concerned, to a point, needs to “save” Bonnerworth. However by means of all of it, Bonnerworth Park continues to be there, and with it extra tales to be instructed.
