Some concerned citizens submitted letters to Dawson Creek city council discussing their issues with the effectiveness of traffic management at the city’s Kin Park projects.
In their letter, the unsettled residents from 110 Avenue said they are being negatively affected by the newly-opened city facilities in their neighbourhood. Kin Park received several upgrades in recent years, including new pickleball and tennis courts.
The residents’ letters said the city underestimated the popularity of these attractions, and asked Dawson Creek city council to reconsider the splash pad, which was originally planned to be the park’s newest amenity.
City staff responded to the residents at Dawson Creek’s regular council meeting on August 11, stating plan has not yet been okay’ed by Northern Health, and they have not finalized a design for the splash pad.
If the plans proceed, the water play area would use recirculated water and it would be the first in Northern Health’s region to have a splash-zone of the sort. Recirculated water, as the name implies, is re-used after being filtered.
The city is working alongside the health authority, and seeking out a contractor with experience in recirculating splash pads to continue the project – which, despite the growing pains, was seen as a success by the city council.
“The new playground at (Kin Park), and the new playground at the Mile Zero Park, are drawing a lot of users,” said Dawson Creek city councillor Charlie Parslow.
Mayor Darcy Dober added that he noticed the city’s trail through Kin Park being used more often.
These letters also raised concern about the tight roads in the area, because the lack of parking forces visitors to park on the street. Parslow brought their parking concerns to the attention of council, who received updates on the parking plan from city staff.
As it stands, the city intends on creating three parking areas for Kin Park – one roadside parking area where drivers can parallel park and two existing areas of the park will be repurposed, and updated.
Roadside parking will be available on a widened 110 Avenue, according to city staff, who said parked cars will have their own lanes after the roadwork, which is yet to begin. Staff said they are waiting to see if it is feasible to start the project in the fall, because workers would be repaving in the winter.
This roadwork was of particular concern to Dawson Creek city councillor Mike Sudnik, who said the roadside parking project would just relocate the cars.
“Those future parking lanes, that’s not really adding any more capacity – that’s just moving the existing capacity off of the street,” said Sudnik.
“You’re not adding any more, you’re just trying to alleviate some congestion.”
City staff clarified the intent of this roadside parking was not to necessarily create additional spaces, instead, they said a designated area for parking may organize cars more efficiently.
They said their goal was to ensure the roads are safe for two-way traffic by clearing parked cars from active roadways. Staff estimated the new roadside parking by Kin Park will have 40-50 spots.
The old wooden playground at the east of Kin Park was removed to make about 20 additional space for parking, and the park’s old tennis court’s parking lot will be getting touched up and expanded.
City staff said they sent two letters to people who live in the area – these letters discuss traffic patterns and other updates as Dawson Creek’s projects continue evolving to meet the needs of current, and future, residents.
