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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Tommy Forrest Park and the green space around it are under consideration for mixed-use development in the city's draft general plan, however, if residents in the area have anything to do with it, the park will stay as it is.

"This is a neighbourhood park, neighbourhood green space that's been there for 40 years," said Anne Wind, during a public forum discussing the plan, Monday night. "We just want it left there. There's birds around there and there's different kinds of animals around there and we don't want that to be developed."

Wind wasn't the only resident to attend the meeting to fight for the field and the surrounding area. Nahum Lee, who lives on 57 Street and whose home backs onto the green space, was there with his two kids.

"My children heard us talking about this at the dinner table and they wanted to come and say something about the green space between our house and Tommy Forrest," he said. "My children are here to fight for that spot.

"The green space behind Tommy Forrest is right behind my house and several of my neighbours' homes and my children use that space on a regular basis."

Tommy Forrest Park was included in the Residential Growth Study, commissioned by the city in 2005, as a possible location for future development. The study was not adopted by the city council of the time because of resistance from residents.

"Why is it in the plan now when it wasn't even passed by council at the time?" asked Wind. "How many times do we have to say we don't want that area developed? Do we do this every five years?"

Michelle Armstrong, a consultant from Ottawa who worked on the general plan, told concerned residents that it's important to remember the plan is not set in stone and is still a draft that will undergo revisions before being presented to council for first reading. She said it's also important to note that the plan doesn't say what's going to happen, it gives options and a vision for what the city could look like in the next 10 years.

"The general plan is not defining what's going to happen, it's just throwing out a vision of what we want to see," she said.

The city reviews its general plan every five years, as is required by the territorial government. The plan sets the city's strategy and vision for growth and development for the next 10 years.

The most recent draft suggests the city's population will grow by about 3,000 people during that period of time. That means there will be a need for about 1,385 more homes in the city.

Tommy Forrest Park and the surrounding area is being considered for mixed-use, which means it could be used for commercial, residential or institutional buildings.

"Obviously the recreation uses would have to find a new home and presumably that would be part of the plan," said Armstrong. "I can only say that the report that the recommendation comes out of, says that probably only 50 per cent of the lands would be suitable for any type of development at all, so there would be substantial buffer lands onto existing residential on the back, so the development would face onto Franklin (Avenue)."

Close to 25 people attended the meeting.

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