Following public concern after city crews cut down the trees in IODE Park two weeks ago, the Star asked the city for its plan for the park, shown below.
IODE Park is located on Hall Street between Herridge Lane and Victoria St.
The city’s Colin Innes says re-landscaping the park was always part of the plan for the re-design of Hall Street, for which public input and feedback sessions were held in 2014.
“The idea was to make IODE Park more open and accessible and to actually have people in the park,” Innes told the Star.
“Our arborist went and assessed the trees, and where they were at structurally, and the age of the trees, and (we decided) it was a good time to renew them.”
In a Star article published after the trees were cut down in October, Mayor Deb Kozak said, “The Norway maples cut down were an invasive species, their root systems were buckling the pathways and making them unsafe, and eventually the park will look better than ever.”
The main features of the new landscaping will be:
• Planting eight trees of mixed species (liquid amber maple, tamarisk, dogwood and sweet gum).
• Planting of 40 mixed shrubs (green carpet juniper, apricot sunrise azalea) and 25 mixed grasses (Japanese blood grass, Korean red feather grass).
• Kinnikinnick will be planted throughout off-path areas to provide a groundcover mat.
• Stone will be recovered from existing failing retaining structures and will reused for establishing the pathway and terraced seating areas.
• Pathway surface will be finished with crushed grey limestone. The park will be enhanced with a new picnic table, two new benches and solar pathway lighting.
Innes said a similar park will eventually be built at the foot of Hall Street near the Prestige.
“At the Hall and Lakeside intersection you feel like you are entering a parking lot, and we want to get away from that and make it feel more like a park.”
He said the two parks will tie the two ends of the Hall St. project together.