This 10 per cent of green space may appear adequate for the new apartment buildings and houses proposed for the site, but it doesn't provide for residents of the surrounding neighbourhoods.

Most people in the city are unaware that Williamsville district, with 14.4 square metres of recreational space per person, has fewer parks and less recreational and cultural space per capita than any other district in the city. (These figures are based on an analysis of the district populations taken from the City of Kingston website; the list of areas of parks, recreational and cultural facilities developed by the city's GIS department; and the concept plan developed for the Memorial Centre property.)

The accompanying chart shows the amount of recreational space per person in each district, how little Williamsville has now, and how much less it will have if the Memorial Centre site is redeveloped according to the concept plan. The Memorial Centre property accounts for more than half of the already inadequate amount of recreation space in the district.

Chart/Graph: The above chart, created by Mikaela Hughes, shows the amount of recreational space per person. Williamsville, already at the lowest level, will drop even lower if the Memorial Centre is redeveloped.

At present, the recreational space serving Williamsville is less than two-thirds of the recreational space serving the next lowest district, Kingscourt-Strathcona, which is adjacent to the Memorial Centre property, and, except for Trillium district, less than half of the recreational space serving other city districts. As a fully developed district and one of the most densely populated, Williamsville has little, if any, opportunity for acquiring more parkland in the future.

If the Memorial Centre property is developed according to the concept plan, Williamsville will have only 5.8 square metres of recreational space per person. It could be even less if the developer who purchases the property decides to be less "generous" with green space.

Kingston's Official Plan indicates that neighbourhood playgrounds should be situated so that access to them doesn't require that children cross heavily travelled streets. The proposed new park is less than one-third the size of Victoria Park, which will make the parkland in the area bounded by busy arterial roads - Concession Street, Division Street and Princess Street - less than 1.5 per cent of the area.

A healthy city needs adequate public recreational and green space throughout its residential neighbourhoods, not just in the wealthy areas or the areas the tourists might see. Will people want to improve their houses and rejuvenate a neighbourhood with inadequate recreational facilities and green space?

As noted in a recent Toronto Star article, "what attracts people now is more than low taxes, superhighways and homogeneity; it's quality of life. A large part of that is the public realm, which is why an investment in the public realm is an investment in the future."

Kingston's Official Plan recognizes the Memorial Centre as "a significant element in the recreation lands system" and that "conversion or disposition of the lands could have significant impacts on [open space, recreational and cultural] land use systems and community features."

As mentioned numerous times in the Kingston Arena Capacity and Expansion Study, a full recreation and cultural services master plan should be undertaken to determine the recreation needs of all communities.

What is to be done with the Memorial Centre? Clearly something must be done. The property has been terribly neglected for decades and hasn't evolved with the changing needs of the community and the city.

It cannot be regarded as a stand-alone development but as a site that impacts the city as a whole. We need to address how the space could be best used as a public asset to benefit the city and neighbourhoods and this needs the active participation of the community.

Mikaela Hughes

Architect and Williamsville resident

Kingston