Budding plans for civic beautification will be put on hold until a recreation master plan is finalized.
At the Thursday, March 19, City of Powell River committee of the whole meeting, Ray Boogaards, the city’s director of parks, recreation and culture, provided a report regarding the Communities in Bloom program. His commentary stemmed from an item on council’s action list requesting that staff submit a report costing out the strategies and actions suggested in a previous report detailing the city’s 2010 Communities in Bloom participation.
Boogaards said 2010 was the only time Powell River was involved in the Communities in Bloom program.
“Because of the upcoming public process we will be having as part of the regional recreation initiative, we are hoping to have a report for council,” he said. “Communities in Bloom will take a lot of staff time to put in place. We would like to make sure it fits fairly high in the priority listing of the citizens of Powell River before we proceed with a recommendation to council.”
For that reason, staff suggested future participation in Communities in Bloom be postponed pending adoption of a regional recreation initiative study and completion of a detailed public consultation process.
Mayor Dave Formosa said Communities in Bloom was an initiative started by the Powell River Chamber of Commerce seven or eight years ago.
“I was the president and we, at the time, thought the city was looking pretty drab,” Formosa said. “As a project, thinking that we are trying to attract tourists and new residents, it would sure be nice to have the community looking better. For instance, the intersection at Alberni Street and Manson Avenue used to be flowers. Now it’s pavement.
“The thought was that the chamber would tap our members for topsoil, flowers, and even irrigation systems.”
Formosa said the chamber went to the public and 40 people rapidly volunteered to be part of a committee, including professionals working with plant life, plus those involved in design.
“Everyone was raring to go and we came to city council,” Formosa said. “The thought was we’d break into groups and we’d take major intersections. We’d clean it, put the money in and keep it up.”
Formosa said council seemed interested but there were difficulties with the city’s union.
“They said they were doing a good enough job and things look great—you go fix up your own businesses.”
Formosa said the union stated it would keep doing what it was doing and the chamber’s proponents could carry on doing what they were doing.
“We just all went away deflated and discouraged,” he said. “Really, you can just throw this thing away as far as I’m concerned.”
Boogaards said while Communities in Bloom is a competition between communities, it is also a competition within communities themselves.
“It’s extremely important that we revisit this if it’s something the community really wants,” he said. “Let’s find out how it fits into our citizens’ priorities, how it fits into council priorities, and the strategic plan.
Councillor Rob Southcott said in Campbell River there is an organization called the Greenways Land Trust. He said one of the main functions of that organization is to coordinate between unionized city staff and volunteer organizations to make sure that the huge volunteer spirit in the community can find creative application in activities that benefit the community as a whole. Southcott said he’d like to see something similar to that happen in Powell River.
Marie Claxton, city clerk, said a successful volunteer beautification project has been the Girl Guides daffodil program.
“Let’s just put this aside for now and get our regional recreation study done,” Claxton said. “There will be lots of discussion and it will come back to the council. Then you can look at the big picture stuff and see if it’s a strategic priority and how it fits in with budget.”
Councillor Jim Palm, who was chairing the meeting, said the BOMB (Bloody Old Men’s Brigade) Squad is another example of volunteer involvement in the city.
Upon listening to the commentary, Formosa said he thinks the exercise is worth trying again.
“Maybe there’s another way of approaching it,” he said. “I know the public would really get behind it.”
