I’m against the sale and development of Town-owned green spaces. In particular, I oppose the sale of the Prince St. Park and the Fairway Park, spanning from the west side of Prince St through to Boundary St.

I urge council to consider the following points:

• Prince St Park is still in heavy use by families in the neighbourhood and beyond for play, soccer, cricket, and other organized and casual activities;
• The Prince St. Park is a multi-use green space that the residents of this town do not want to see replaced by a 250-unit residential complex. This could add an additional 250-500 or more cars to streets where sidewalks do not yet exist but children must walk or bike them;
• The balance of greenspace and town use in the community will be severely impacted if the development of this 1km stretch of park and greenspace;
• These spaces allow for youth safe passage to schools and residents, especially as many streets do not have sidewalks, and where sidewalks do exist in that area, motorists are regularly speeding;
• Green spaces need to be accessible within all neighborhoods in order to ensure local residents can act as "watchful eyes" within close proximity, at least 1 municipal park is nowhere near any residents, and 2 more are not easily observed by local residents;
• The selling of these spaces will result in no local municipal parks for the residents of East Street to Boundary Street along Park Street and north;
• More than half the Town’s children are required to cross the train tracks to access 2/3 of the parks; there are no sidewalks to safely walk through the industrial trucking zones surrounding the new park;
• Fairway Park is not surplus land but rather used daily by the 18 children residing in the immediate neighborhood, as well as students that attend the local elementary schools, small children in the local home childcare business in immediate proximity to the park, as well as used by local residents and their pets. 
• Fairway Park is a known flood zone not ideal for residential development (wetland as noted in the 2024 Official Plan and please see photo of ducks swimming in seasonable wetland of Fairway Park);
• Fairway Park serves as a wildlife habitat and corridor for foxes, snakes, lizards, monarch butterflies, mallard ducks, skunks, bats, and numerous other wild animals. Removing this natural corridor puts residents at risk and increases the likelihood of human-wildlife conflict;
• Fairway Park acts as an essential ecosystem to native plants and many mature trees, including  numerous “memorial” trees as described on the Town website.
• The Park's mature trees, thickets, and wetlands provide necessary green infrastructure that support reducing wind, the heat island effect, provide flood absorption, a carbon sink, and sound, water, and air filtration.

As per the 2024 Official Plan, I believe the sale of the Prince athletic park and Fairway Park goes against our Guiding Principles (section 14.2) #1-4 and 6-9 (all but #5), which describe a commitment to sustainable development and planning that protect our environment, active transportation, and good mixed use, and promote the development of brownfields.

I believe there are many other brownfields and other lands we can look at developing before we convert our remaining green spaces. Currently, Prescott is not only not experiencing a housing shortage, but we are under no provincial obligation to build any houses. Our focus should be on bringing jobs to town before we continue to build houses on top of the dozens of units already being developed. If we are concerned with our tax base, then I request all permits be done correctly and submitted to MPAC to ensure property taxes reflect house values after extensive renovations.

I will be watching how the elected members vote and will take this into account next year when I am voting in my municipal government. Prescott’s small-town charm and natural beauty is worth preserving and fighting for.