By Khang Nguyen

Trees and alley ways among concerns for Ward 7 residents

Sep 23, 2015 | 6:36 AM

The fourth of eight planned neighbourhood meetings was another productive one as residents met to discuss the strengths and their concerns for Ward 7.

About 30 residents met at the East Hill Community Club on Tuesday night to discuss matters from tree pruning, back alley maintenance and traffic concerns.

Also present at the meeting was city Parks Manager Alissa Baker to gather information on the ward’s concerns over Kinsmen Park.

Baker brought three large posters which she encouraged attendees to write their suggestions on with what they’d like to see changed at Kinsmen Park.

Suggestions on the posters included converting the paddling pool into a spray park, and replacing the portable bathrooms on the east side of the park into permanent ones.

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Resident Rich Miller agreed with the suggestions of the other residents and also added his own.

“At night, there are some unsavoury characters in there that you wouldn’t really want to walk in there at night,” Miller said. “By doing a few things like cleaning up some of the brush, that makes it easier to have that area patrolled and makes it less enticing for those people who would use it for negative purposes.”

Miller also commented on the issue of tree pruning which was one of the main talking points throughout the night.

“I think it’s a matter of planning and cutting them back a little bit,” Miller said. “They don’t really want to remove the trees as much as cut them back where they can.”

Several residents brought up the issue of trees covering up street lights thus making the streets dark and unsafe.

In some cases, trees are growing so far over the sidewalks that people are forced to duck underneath the branches or walk into the streets to avoid them.

According to Baker, the city has over 300 outstanding tree pruning requests across the city.

However, some residents commended the city saying they’ve seen trees pruned within 24 hours of calling the city with their concerns.

Another issue discussed was the state of many back alleys within the neighbourhood.

Several residents mentioned the poor shape the back alleys are in from pot holes and the lack of gravel.

“That is an issue that some people have and I see some of that in our back alley,” Miller said. “Maybe when grading occurs the gravel is pushed up against our fences rather than to the middle of the road where it should be.”

Other issues raised by residents included, sewer drainage and flood issues, snow removal, railway corridor and crime, and high traffic concerns.

Community meetings are part of a larger city initiative to communicate and work with the Prince Albert wards. This will lead to the creation of a neighbourhood plan that will be drafted at the beginning of 2016 that will then tie into the Official Community Plan currently being drafted, which will lay out the cities objectives and projects for the future.

There are four more community planning meetings scheduled throughout October:

• ·         Ward 5: Tuesday, Oct. 13 @ 6:30 p.m. at Crescent Heights Community Club
• ·         Ward 8: Thursday, Oct. 15 @ 7 p.m. at West Hill Community Club
• ·         Ward 6: Wednesday, Oct. 21 @ 6:30 p.m. at Carlton Park Community Club
• ·         Ward 2: Thursday, Oct. 22 @ 6:30 p.m. at City Hall Foyer

knguyen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @khangvnguyen