Future of Riverview Park in Apsley is up for discussion

APSLEY — North Kawartha Township will soon find out how its residents feel about the future of the municipally owned Riverview Park in Apsley — whether to revitalize the overgrown property or turn it into a building lot.

The two-acre green space on Riverview Drive is in a residential neighbourhood off McFadden Road with 124 feet of waterfront on Eels Creek. At its September council meeting, councillors directed staff to prepare a survey to assist them with the decision about the park which, although it was in use and maintained during the 1980s and early 1990s, has not been used or maintained since about 1995. That’s been due to vandalism, misuse and thefts from neighbouring residential homes, according to a staff report.

A July staff report to council said it has returned to its natural overgrown forest-like state and is currently not usable as a park or public green space. Mayor Carolyn Amyotte said council began discussing the park’s future because there has been a lot of public comment about it lately and councillors need to know if people are in support of the township declaring it surplus and selling it.

“Certainly, it bears further consultation. I think there is an opportunity for us to go to the public, get some feedback, and get some input on this before we make a decision,” she said.

Two councillors — Jim O’Shea and Roman Miszuk — and Deputy Mayor Jim Whelan all favour the idea of seeing it sold and used for residential development.

Township council received a costing estimate from staff in July, which showed the initial expense to revitalize the park would be about $71,500 for forestry work, signage, fencing, washrooms, ongoing annual maintenance such as grass cutting, garbage and recycling collection, bylaw enforcement and policing and purchase of a forestry mulcher every three to five years to maintain pathways and fence lines.

Work would also involve opening the entrance to the park to allow for off-road parking for four cars.

Consideration should be given to additional parking on Riverview Drive in front of neighbouring properties, the staff report said, and the overall parking situation “has the potential to become a long-term challenge.”

Whelan agreed with Miszuk, saying it could help with Apsley’s housing shortage if it became a building lot.

“You know exactly what’s going to happen there if they clean it up and open it up as a park,” he said. “We have a bylaw that says you can’t park on township roads, and I don’t think it will take the neighbours too long to start calling and saying, ‘Hey, tow these.’ So, you may please a few people in the initial thing, but you’re going to make an awful lot of people very mad.

“I don’t see much of an upside here. Make this a residential area and sell it off.”

Coun. Colin McLennan disagreed, saying a park would attract people to Apsley.

“The one thing that I would like to point out is I cannot think of a single town that has access to waterfront property that has not taken advantage of that waterfront in order to create a park area for their residents to enjoy it. Every town that has a river or borders on a lake has been able to take something from that and create something beautiful.”