Delhi Park 10-year phased plan is subject to funding

By Sharon Harrison
Large in scale and scope, a long-term, multi-phased Delhi Park Community Connections Active Transportation Plan was supported by council members at Committee of the Whole.

It is described a long-term vision of how the centrally located 31-acre park can be revitalized to connect Picton from better entry points along accessible paths for people and bicycles with lighting, signs and benches.

Implementation of the plan, however, is subject to external funding being secured, something municipal staff will explore as funding programs (hopefully provincial and federal) become available.

There was a lot of discussion about funding at Thursday’s Committee of the Whole meeting, and the municipality’s role as it pertains to contributing to financing.

A motion from councillor Phil St-Jean was supported to make the Delhi Park project one of community interest, (which allows receiving donations and issuing receipts for tax purposes).

Described as a “significant investment” for both implementation and maintenance, the proposed phased approach is expected to extend to 10-plus years.

Currently, there are no available funds or resources to begin the project. While $50,000 was received from Infrastructure Canada’s Active Transportation Fund to develop a conceptual plan, that money has been “utilized in full”.

Councillor John Hirsch said it was a “really good design of a project” and acknowledged the forethought of it extending to the Heights as well as taking into account Base31 development.

“It is fantastic and I hope it happens sooner than later, but that is all dependent on funding,” said Hirsch. “Even if grants are available, it usually involves a co-funding aspect, meaning the County has to come up with some of the money.”

St-Jean asked about using parkland reserve funds, but Amanda Carter, director of finance, reminded that dedicated funds for 2024 for many community initiatives and projects has been exhausted and “the pool of money is much, much smaller than what it was previously.”

During comments from the audience, Picton resident Kelly McGillivray, who identified as a professional transportation engineer, as well as chair of the traffic advisory committee, spoke to “connecting the four sides of Picton with the robust accessible transportation networks through Delhi Park”.

She described Picton as a doughnut-shaped town with a ring-road infrastructure and no easy way to traverse through the middle, where she also spoke to the many benefits of the project, such as enhancing health and well-being, environment, quality of life, recreation and mobility.

“In the centre of this town is an underused gem, Delhi Park,” she said. “What we don’t have now is an accessible infrastructure for walking and biking that will extend the user group to include seniors, parents, people with mobility limitations and cyclists.”

She said she sees the park as an “extension of our transportation system through the middle of the doughnut. Delhi Park is the missing link between these destinations”.

Councillors also heard a presentation from Victoria Taylor of VTLA Studio, and a deputation from Kiydan Zachariah with the Greater than County Youth Collective, along with two comments from audience.

Agreeing Delhi Park is a valuable public asset, Taylor pointed out it has no formally defined park entrances or pathways; no signage or wayfinding, poor quality paths for accessibility (steep slopes, uneven surfaces, no handrails), inconsistent lighting limiting park use and no continuous routes through the park for cyclists and no bike parking.

Taylor, who participated virtually, noted the seven-month project involved months of site discovery, investigative research to learn about the park’s history, existing paths and entrances, and more than 70 hours of consultations with the project’s task team and advisers, rights’ holders, County staff and committees, local residents, business owners and adjacent property stakeholders.

She also spoke to the background and history of the park where she showed a map documenting the maze of hidden entrances and informal paths that criss-cross through the park.

“Every landscape has a story, but as far as we can tell there isn’t one document that shares the story of this particular landscape; the full story of Delhi Park is yet to be told.”

She also noted that through the entire park there is no access to drinking water and no washroom.

“It’s a space people move through if they are able, but it’s not a space people actually spend much time in other than the dog run. There are no covered spaces to gather, there are very few picnic tables, and lighting is minimal.”

A hackathon session (a hackathon is described as “a group of clever people, making an effective solution to a problem, quickly”) in partnership with the Greater Than Youth Collective, took place in February as part of the consultation process to include participation from local youth and saw 22 participants (aged from 15-23 years) attend the session.

Kiydan Zachariah, with the Greater than County Youth Collective, explained how it began with a site visit to the Mary Street entrance to the park, followed by a one-and-a-half hour design session where participants were asked to re-design that entrance and discuss.

“The Portal to Nature (Delhi Park) Hackathon was a creative way to involve youth in the phase one consultation process,” she said. “It is also important to note that youth want to be involved. Having consultation sessions focused on educating and hearing from youth allows for a more comfortable environment for young people to be seen, heard and valued.”

Describing the project as a “lovely and yet very ambitious plan”, councillor Janice Maynard addressed the issue of funding over other County priorities, citing many sidewalks in need of repair, buildings not accessible, few other green spaces that are fully accessible, as she spoke to “sharing the wealth or making our meagre funds to stretch as much as possible”.

“How we do fit a new project in amongst a very long list of projects that are already on a list. How do you prioritize this over others? We have a long list of accessibility shortfalls across the County, and I have discomfort with a long-term project we don’t know is going to become possible.”

She also asked about long-range projections when it comes to maintenance.

“I really appreciate this project,” Maynard added, indicating she could support in principle only a very small portion of it, “until I get answers on long-term implications, budget and capital, prioritization, as there are too many other competing priorities to take care of.”

Councillor Bill Roberts called the project “really thoughtful, creative, and accessible. I think it has County-wide, maybe even region-wide, impact.”

In her report, Ashley Stewart, community programs co-ordinator with the County, provided background of the project which began in fall 2023 with a task team of volunteers and a landscape architect, where, along with municipal staff, a plan was developed.

Steeped in cultural and natural history, Delhi Park has served as a central public green space for recreation and social interaction since its opening in 1984, (and before), but has largely been underused, likely due to the steep escarpments, the report states.

“The environmental considerations stemming from its history as a marsh estuary and floodplain, and its previous use as a landfill from the early 1900s to 1979, are challenges that contribute to its lack of use and investment.”

Accessible pathways proposed in the plan total 5.8 kilometers in length, with a further 0.8 kilometers of non-accessible path (active recreation trails). The park’s 11 entrances were reviewed as part of the design plan and indicated how each entrance connects to either a primary path, secondary path or active transportation path.

The recommendations include updating six of the entrances to meet accessibility requirements, with two entrances to remain unchanged, and the remaining three updated, but not AODA-compliant.

Proposed amenities include things like lighting allowing for 24/7 use to pathways, benches at intervals along pathways, water bottle refill stations, bicycle rack parking and waste and recycling receptacles, along with signage for wayfinding, information and interpretive panels.

The proposed first phase would include implementation of an accessible pathway connection from Macaulay Village on the Heights to Picton Main Street.

“Delhi Park’s central location makes it an ideal connector for active transportation routes that allow pedestrians and cyclists to access Picton Main Street, Picton Harbour, Millennium Trail, Macaulay Village and more for residents to get to school, work and to go about their daily lives.”

Stakeholder focus groups were held with property stakeholders (such as Picton Community Gardens, Glenwood Cemetery, Dog Park Working Group and Mount Olivet Cemetery), environmental stakeholders (Quinte Conservation), and community-based stakeholders (such as Accessibility Advisory Committee, PEC Trails, Picton Library, OPP Community Safety Officer and IMPACT social worker).

Details of the proposed plan can be found on the County’s website.

Delhi pathways plan to better connect ‘heart of Picton’