Esquimalt Gets a Pocket Park Too!
I would not have guessed that I would be writing two pocket park articles in a row, let alone about two new ones in different parts of the city. If you didn't read my last article about a newly proposed pocket park on Herald Street, you can read here. The one I am looking at today is all the way over on the west side of Esquimalt, and at over 18 thousand square feet, is likely stretching the definition of a pocket park. This park is part of a proposal by Intracorp (yes, the same developer as the last pocket park, which just to be transparent is really a total coincidence) to build a new rental housing project at Nelson and Saunders Streets.
When I saw this project, I really had to try and visualize where in Esquimalt it was. To be honest, I think I have travelled past than Red Barn on on Esquimalt Road only five times in all the years I have lived here. So, I went down to walk around and try and visualize the park and the new project. The project is about two blocks west of Admirals and just south of the fence line for the Navy base, right by the Canex if you know where that is on base. I was actually quite surprised by the amount of newer buildings already in the area and the others that were underway. In the Official Community Plan for Esquimalt, the whole area is set to be high-density. That said, if completely built out, the one thing the area doesn’t have nearby is a park. The Sussex and Saunders project that is proposed for this lot is going to change this.
As you can see in the rendering for the project, a large residential rental building is proposed for half of the lot, while the other half is fully a park. While it is not obvious from looking at the pictures for the park, it will be built overtop of the parking garage for the building. Due to this, and like the park on Herald Street, I don’t believe that this will be a wholly public park owned by the the Township of Esquimalt. I did get a chance to discuss this with the developers and their landscape architect and they said, “…the park being open to the public is a requirement for the development permit and can’t be revoked or changed.” I was also able to get a significant amount of details about what this park will include (list provided by the developer):
Pirate Ship Themed Playground -> The developer has sourced a specific piece of playground equipment with a pirate ship.
Other sensory play elements included, rubber safety surfacing, shaded seating deck over raised planting offers opportunities for parents to be close to their children.
Multi-purpose sport court – for a variety of play-type uses.
Central Grass Lounging Lawn -> for general recreation and gathering
Learning Garden -> features a mix of native and pollinator supporting plant species, laid out to promote sensory engagement and with the opportunity for informational signage.
Bathroom and Water Fountain
Picnic Tables
Seating Stair with integrated terraced planters, Decorative Landscaping boulders, raised planters with drought-tolerant and sun adapted native shrubs, ornamentals, trailing perennials.
Variety of Seating options throughout
Water Mister Station
Courtesy of Intracorp Homes
I really like the design. It has all of the elements that you need for a successful neighbourhood park, specifically for me: the walking paths; seating options; washrooms; a grassy play area; and a playground. That said, the odd location does mean that either you live in one of the surrounding buildings or it is a destination park. It could be a destination park depending on another interesting aspect of the project which is a retail space at the east end of the building, just north of a set of stairs that lines that end of the park. If a cool cafe goes in here, I could see people making the trek to find this place. That said, the excellent Esquimalt Roasting Company is just a few blocks away and there you have the library, the public square and a choice of the water park to the east or Memorial Park to the north. So there will need to be something pretty great to sway people away from that option. Still, if you recognise that there is expected to be a large amount of people living just in this building and a lot more just in the surrounding blocks, maybe there will be enough to make this a vibrant and busy park.
I know many people raised concerns with the ownership structure of the park with my last article. I didn’t have as much information as I do with this one, but I can’t for certain say that there is a difference. That said, it does sound like Esquimalt is really making sure that this park is open to the public in perpetuity even if it isn’t owned by the public. I am not sure if that changes things completely, but it might.
If you are interested in participating in the public hearing for this project, it is going to Esquimalt Council on Monday, July 7th at 7pm.
I would love to hear what you think about this proposed park and what it might be missing. Let me know in the comments!
