Bonnerworth construction tender closes as community group plans for injunction

This article originally appeared in the Peterborough Examiner on October 18, 2024 and is reprinted here through a creative commons license.

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Bids for tender on the controversial Bonnerworth Park redevelopment project closed Thursday at 2 p.m. — but according to the city, there are no updates to share with the public at this time, nor was there a timeline on when construction may begin.

Meanwhile, members of the of Coalition to Save Bonnerworth Park — a grassroots organization of residents aiming to preserve the existing green space at the property — told the Examiner they have met with Patrick Kraemer, a Kitchener-based lawyer, to explore their options, including filing for an injunction to prevent construction from beginning.

According to a statement to the Examiner on Thursday, the group recently incorporated as a not-for-profit organization — Friends of Bonnerworth Park — in order to file an injunction, which group representatives say could occur by early next week.

“The city should not award any contract until an injunction is heard by the courts,” the group wrote.

The statement goes on to state it is also now taking issue with the recently released stormwater management report which, they say, is “unacceptable.”

“The city has not held itself to the high stormwater standards it requires of private developers,” the statement reads. “Either the city didn’t review the stormwater report before posting it, or has made an exception in terms of its standards and the quality of the work required for this project.”

Over the period of two weeks, Friends of Bonnerworth Park has fundraised nearly $35,000 from 192 donors, including a $2,500 donation from the residents of Marycrest at Inglewood Seniors Residence located across Monaghan Road from Bonnerworth.

On Sept. 16, the group presented Mayor Jeff Leal with a petition signed by more than 8,100 community members who opposed the redevelopment of the park located at McDonnel Street and Monaghan Road, just outside of downtown Peterborough.

The group initially aimed to raise $15,000 in order to cover the initial costs associated with a notice of intent to file an injunction, but quickly exceeded that target within 48 hours of opening the fundraiser on Oct. 3.

By the end of the weekend, the group had doubled its goal to $30,000 and had crowdfunded more than $24,000.

“Because of the community’s incredible support to-date, we feel encouraged to increase our goal to match the reality of the costs of legal action needed to save this much-loved park,” a notice states on the group’s GoFundMe page.

The $4.4-million redevelopment project at Bonnerworth Park was approved in October 2023, with the budget for the project being approved during budget negotiations in December 2023.

The project includes 14 pickleball courts (down from the originally planned 16 and including two accessible courts), a renovated skate park and a new bike pump track.

Construction on the pickleball courts had been set to begin in Fall 2024, with the remaining aspects of the project to begin in 2025.

According to city staff, the renovated park will include an increase in “passive-use green space” over the existing footprint of the park, which includes two baseball diamonds at the Bonnerworth’s northern and southern ends separated by an expansive lawn area.

Late last week, the city released a formal site plan after months of petitions and protests in response to the council’s refusal to re-examine the project in light of what coalition and community members see as a lack of consultation and council oversight following the release of a fit plan during a community meeting in March 2024.

The newest plan, which follows a secondary fit plan released in August, includes plans to plant 212 trees — down from the original 275 — spread across 12 species.

Despite Mayor Leal’s speculation Bonnerworth may become an urban sugar bush, only 16 of the trees — or 7.5 per cent — in the updated plan are sugar maples.

A major change from the former fit plan presented to the Arenas, Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee (APRAC), as well as the Accessibility Advisory Committee, was the decision to shift the accessible courts closer to the 44-space parking lot off Bonaccord Street on the park’s north end.

At a joint meeting of those local advisory committees, held Aug. 13, Bruce Bozec, APRAC member and former president of the Peterborough Pickleball Association, asked representatives of the city and landscape architects if it would be possible to forfeit an accessible court to make room for one more pickleball court.

“It was felt that 14 was an appropriate compromise to still have a viable amount of pickleball courts for the pickleball community, while trying to address the balance of the other issues,” Sheldon Laidman, commissioner of social services, said at the time.

Information about the planned project and the process and studies the city has undertaken, including the parks and outdoor recreation facility study, can be found on the Connect Peterborough page.