Disappointed to see a piece of parkland being put up for sale, a Timmins woman has started a petition.
Recently, two lots were put up for sale in Flinstone Park. Bordered by Pearl Avenue, Rea Street North and Vimy Avenue, it features a small playground, a creek and green space.
The two lots —213 and 221 Pearl Ave. — are in the northwest corner of the park. Both are 50 feet by 140 feet in size and listed for $40,000.
“It’s really upsetting. The people in the area … one of the reasons we bought our home is we like being close to downtown, we like being close to amenities, but we have small yards. We don’t have big yards and our homes are close together here," said Ariane Flamian.
Flamian lives near the park and said part of the appeal of moving into their house was the beautiful park and green space to walk to.
Since seeing the for sale signs, in the evenings she has been going door-to-door with a petition. A new mom with limited time, she's also created an online petition that people can sign to help save the green space. People are asked not to sign both.
“So far the people have been really supportive, all the homes that I’ve been to have signed the paper petition. There are some comments on Facebook, things like ‘oh, people litter’ or ‘they don’t pick up after their dogs’ or there’s been comments about homeless people hanging out around the trees, but I don’t think that’s an excuse to get rid of a green space. That can be an issue in any park,” she said, suggesting it could be an opportunity to look at adding a garbage can or dog bags.
“There must be other things we can do to take those issues into consideration and not just sell the park,” she said.
The lots for sale are zoned as open space, according to James Fefebvre, Mattagami Region Conservation Authority (MRCA) regulations officer. The severance application, he said, indicated the lots were being created for residential development.
"The lands went through the City of Timmins process for severing lands, which included notification to any resident owning land within 60m of the subject property (in any direction). That was followed by a public meeting where the application was approved (despite one objection) and an appeal period where no appeal was submitted," he said.
He said the land is not in the flood plain and is suitable for development.
"As a conservation authority our priorities are the protection of lands — such as wetlands — that are particularly sensitive to development and, here in Timmins, to maintain the vast network of trail systems throughout the community for everyone to enjoy," he said.
"You can imagine that, with every passing year, operating costs for a not-for-profit such as the MRCA continue to grow. Unfortunately, funding doesn’t always follow suit and for us to be able to continue doing what we do for our watershed we have to make these sorts of fiscally responsible decisions."
With a three-year-old son and another baby on the way, Samantha Millette uses the park "pretty much every weekend."
"We’ve had picnics under the trees and … as he gets older we plan on continuing to spend time there with him and I see kids there all the time,” she said.
Through the petition, Millette said the goal is to stop the sale of the land and convince the MRCA that $80,000 isn't worth "losing this significant chunk of green space for that amount of money." She also suggested the city could buy the land to keep it for public use.
“Especially in COVID times, there’s nothing to do. Not that that’s my primary reasoning, but we’ve realized how important outdoor green space is,” she said.
Aside from signing the petition, she encourages people to write letters to the MRCA as well as Timmins Mayor George Pirie and ward five councillors.
The online petition can be viewed here.
