Grassroots movement aims to save Amherstburg’s Centennial Park

Article content

Amherstburg mom Tina Sharman has many fond memories of her time in high school, training at the S. Ralph McCurdy Track and Field Complex.

Sharman, whose maiden name is MacDonald, threw shot put and discus for General Amherst and won two Ontario championship gold medals and went on to represent Canada at the World Championships.

Now as a parent, Sharman is throwing her support behind a grassroots movement to save the track, the football field and the hill at Centennial Park.

In only a few days, an online petition on www.change.org titled “Save Centennial Field” had garnered almost 2,000 signatures as of Thursday afternoon.

General Amherst student Arial McCallum and two other students started the petition, while Sharman and other parents have been sharing the effort on Facebook.

“I thought people should know potentially what could happen there, there’s a potential for housing at Centennial Park with no recreational amenities,” Sharman said. “I kept thinking what if people don’t know?”

Article content

The town carved up Centennial Park and sold 15 acres to the Greater Essex County District School Board for a new dual high school that will replace Amherst and Western secondary schools.

Construction of the new school is underway on the south end while the fate of 12 acres to the north has come into question.

The north end features the track, the football field and a small hill known as Russel Renaud Hill used for tobogganing in the winter and frolicking in the summer.

“We want to see the hill remain,” said Sharman who has a son in Grade 9 at Amherst and a daughter in Grade 6 who will eventually attend the new school. “We’d like to see the track rebuilt and the football field updated.”

Some parents would like to see the skate park relocated there and have basketball and tennis courts added to the park.

“A lot of people care about having a nice place for everyone to go to,” said McCallum who noted the initial petition goal was set at 500 signatures. “I can’t believe how quickly it blew up.”

McCallum added “the school needs the track and field complex, there’s no green space if they put houses there.”

Plans for the dual school call for students to access the athletic and recreational facilities at the Libro Centre, located several kilometres away.

“It’s a 20-minute walk,” McCallum said. “So for gym class, it’s 20 minutes there and 20 minutes back. That’s so much wasted time.

The architectural drawings for the school outline a track near Victoria Street but only for information purposes should the community be interested in adding one for an estimated $1 million price tag.

Article content

“We need a track in central Amherstburg,” said town councillor Don McArthur. “The community raised money for the McCurdy track and the Lions pool and we need to do it again because the town doesn’t have the money.”

The town’s only community pool, the Lions pool, was lost as part of the new school construction site.

McArthur has received emails from citizens concerned about the loss of the recreational amenities at Centennial Park.

“Every piece of recreational infrastructure in that park is gone, it’s gone,” he said. “We have to replace it and we have to figure out where.

“It’s a very important topic and I’m glad the community is talking about it. I want the community to talk about it but that conversation is just beginning.”

Nothing has been finalized in terms of the future of the north end of the park, according to McArthur.

“It’s in the centre of town,” he said. “It’s going to define our town for generations so let’s get it right.”

McCallum said the plan is to present the petition at next week’s municipal council meeting.

“I feel like it would be so unfortunate if we lost that park for the town,” McCallum said.

mcaton@postmedia.com

twitter.com/winstarcaton