{"id":12578,"date":"2015-11-11T18:33:57","date_gmt":"2015-11-11T23:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=12578"},"modified":"2015-11-11T18:33:57","modified_gmt":"2015-11-11T23:33:57","slug":"mcmahon-park-garden-proposal-divides-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/mcmahon-park-garden-proposal-divides-community\/","title":{"rendered":"McMahon Park garden proposal divides community"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gardens are typically seen as a hub for people to gather and enjoy, but a proposal to turn a portion of McMahon Park into a community garden had all the ingredients of becoming a neighbourhood battleground last week as residents fought for and against the plan. <\/p>\n

Neighbours on both sides of the garden path made their cases to Council at last week\u2019s General Committee meeting. With residents opposing the plan having the more vocal cheering section in the audience, their views were brought together by former councillor Bob McRoberts, who has lived within a stone\u2019s throw of the land in question for the better part of 60 years. <\/p>\n

For him, his opposition to a community garden in this area was less of a NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) issue, but rather a NIAP \u2013 that is, \u201cNot in Any Park.\u201d<\/p>\n

A survey to gauge the interest in a neighbourhood garden, which would have provide plots for people across Aurora to grow their own vegetables and fruit, only went to homes within a 400 metre radius of McMahon Park, Mr. McRoberts contended. <\/p>\n

\u201cThose people already live in houses with front, back and side yards for growing vegetables,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe it is a PYOBY \u2013 Put In Your Own Back Yard. I am surprised the Town is willing to consider providing these residents with even more land. Perhaps the survey would better discover a true need by being sent to only Aurora\u2019s apartment and condo dwellers. My condo-living daughter says, \u2018If I wanted a garden, I\u2019d live in a house.\u2019 I agree with the concept of providing some land for a community garden, but I do not agree with the location.\u201d<\/p>\n

McMahon Park is already a busy community hub, he noted, with tennis courts, lawn bowling, picnic areas, playgrounds and soccer pitches being a draw for people across Aurora. Plowing a portion of this park over for gardens would create an eyesore if the current condition of Aurora\u2019s first community garden on Industrial Parkway South is any indication, he added, citing standing water, dripping taps, broken fences, and unkempt plots.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sure the gardeners all started with great enthusiasm and good intentions,\u201d said Mr. McRoberts. \u201cOver time, human nature sets in. As people\u2019s lives change, so do their priorities. Vegetable patches take a lot of time and energy to maintain. People are more apt to look after them if they are in their own yards. McMahon Park is already a well-used, much appreciated green space. Please put the vegetable patch in some yet-to-be-developed plot, as is the current one on Industrial Parkway, not smack in the middle of an established neighbourhood. Please don\u2019t divide our neighbourhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the opposite corner were local trails advocate Klaus Wehrenberg and community garden organizer Catherine Cook, both neighbours living around the McMahon Park area. Mr. Wehrenberg and Ms. Cook were instrumental in bringing the community garden proposal forward to Council, first pitching their idea at both Aurora\u2019s Environmental Advisory and Parks and Recreation Committee.<\/p>\n

Despite the staff report advising against moving forward with the garden plan despite the slightest majority of respondents voting in favour of the issue, their enthusiasm was undiminished. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn a democracy the majority prevails,\u201d said Mr. Wehrenberg, adding Aurora\u2019s Parks and Recreation Master Plan calls for further community gardens on a trial basis. \u201cWith such a proposal having been brought forth and with 52 per cent of support by the greater McMahon Park neighbourhood, I would like to know why the proposal would not be allowed to be implemented on a trial basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are aware of the concerns and undertake to respect them in both the set-up and the future operation of such an allotment garden and respectfully request that our capacity to implement will not be pre-judged on the basis of negative examples and thoughts, for which we cannot be made responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Cook, on the other hand, was a leading figure in the development of the Industrial Parkway South Garden, managing community food gardens for York Region for the past decade. She said she did not disagree with neighbours who characterized that particular garden as unkempt, but come the fall plants die, leaves fall, and these concerns can \u201cinform\u201d how the McMahon garden would have developed going forward. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we can all appreciate the concerns from local residents about the unknown but over time it is those neighbours who participate in and benefit from the garden program who will be most impacted,\u201d said Ms. Cook. \u201cNot all property owners responded. Most importantly, the majority of survey respondents, 52 per cent, support the garden yet this statistic is not emphasized in the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an acceptable location. In fact, it is an excellent location. It bodes critical factors needed for successful planting: full-day sun exposure, viable soil, water access, available space, and close proximity to participants. Concerned voices about soil quality, drainage, etc., may pose challenges but are easily overcome using simple gardening strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gardens are typically seen as a hub for people to gather and enjoy, but a proposal to turn a portion of McMahon Park into a community garden had all the ingredients of becoming a neighbourhood battleground last week as residents fought for and against the plan. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/2015-11-12-11.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-3gS","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 11:12:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}