Pottery Park sign at Pottery Road and 15th Street (photo credit: Kevin Rothwell / Vernon Matters)

By Kevin Rothwell

Park development allowed on ALR land

East Hill group pushes for ‘Pottery Road Park’

May 13, 2021 | 6:00 AM

A group called “Friends of East Hill Parks” has released a video that encourages the City of Vernon to acquire an acreage for a significant park.

The property in question is a 9.5 acre hay field at the corner of 15th Street and Pottery Road, which the group feels would make a perfect park location, given access, and that it is already within the City of Vernon.

There have been attempts to get the land our of the Agriculture Land Reserve (ALR) which have failed. It is likely — if not for the ALR designation — that the property would already have homes on it.

Parkland is an allowable use within the ALR

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“If you are a resident of East Hill, you can appreciate the limited park options you have. While the area has seven official parks, with Lakeview Park being the largest and most multi-use, the other six are residual pieces of land that have been developed into mini or tot parks,” the group’s website stated. “Fair enough. However, even by the city’s own parks planning document, East Hill is severely under-parked, when you consider the established standard for park area per resident population.”

The East Hill neighbourhood currently has a parkland to resident ratio of .38 hectare/1,000 people.

Approximate location of a proposed 9.5 acre park on ALR property (photo credit: Google Earth)

The group would like to see the property included in the ‘Vernon Parks Master Plan.”