You can help stop paradise from being paved

Yorkregion.com
April 16, 2016
By Marney Beck

Trick question: what do the Oak Ridges Moraine and David Dunlap Observatory have in common?

Well, it may be obvious that each is a green oasis in a growing urban environment that is cherished and fervently championed by environmentalists and ordinary people who want places to play and enjoy for future generations.

The other less obvious correct answer is YOU - the power of people to make sure both currently protected green spaces continue to be saved or avoid the fate Canadian icon Joni Mitchell aptly warned about in her song Big Yellow Taxi - “... they paved paradise and put up a parking lot”.

“Ha” scoff many residents of Richmond Hill, reading these words. How can people protect the controversial Dunlap Observatory site, when in the past few weeks hundreds of trees have been bulldozed and shrubs and forests a century old have been razed to the ground?

Many emails and letters have come my way, lamenting the destruction of forested lands on Bayview Avenue in Richmond Hill, the east side of the 100-acre observatory site.

It does look sad, or as Richmond Hill Mayor Dave Barrow admitted last week at a town-sponsored workshop: “seeing the trees coming down is upsetting to all of us, but we know a portion will be saved...making this the greatest park in our community”.

What? Is he trying to say a developer tearing down trees to build hundreds of houses is a good news story?

Yes, that’s exactly what the mayor was saying at the April 7 Dunlap Observatory master plan public workshop.

I was among the 40 or 50 people at the workshop to help plan the western half of the property that will be saved as a public park, not just an ordinary park, but a “destination park” that will attract families from far beyond Richmond Hill when it is a reality.

And lest you think the public workshop was just window dressing and that some faceless bureaucrats somewhere have already decided what the park will look like, Richmond Hill is truly encouraging input into this novel park.

Even before the workshop began, Councillor Godwin Chan, in whose ward the observatory is located, told everyone that 500 people have already provided input and ideas on the park in the past nine months - “public consultation is very important for this legacy park”.

Then began the hard but exciting task, picking option A or B, choosing what top amenities we’d like to see in our new park in addition to the protected heritage observatory with famed telescope: a formal garden, meadow maze, small planetarium, museum, outdoor tennis courts that double as skating rink in winter, trails and wetland walkway, covered picnic area, conservatory, fountain, splash park...

The list of potential features was so attractive and long, it was hard to choose. But after much animated discussion at table groups, we were each given three stickers and told to pick our top three features - boy, that was difficult!

The point was, my three votes mattered. If you missed that workshop, you can go online to richmondhillca, find the reports on park plans A and B, and offer your own suggestions online.

You can also offer your input on whether the moraine deserves continued protection from development by the provincial government in the same two ways: there was a town hall meeting in Aurora Tuesday, but if you missed that, there’s one May 12 in Vaughan.

Or go to the government website at www.mah.gov.on.ca/Page10882.aspx and give your feedback.

If you really want to protect paradise and prevent all our greenspace from becoming parking lots, raise your voices and give your opinions.