West 91大黄鸭 council is holding off on naming four new parks after several councillors called for a review of city鈥檚 parks naming policy.
The decision came during the July 8 council meeting, where staff recommended names for four recently acquired parks. Those names鈥擲hannon Lake North Park, Cabernet Park, Rhyolite Park, and Gossett Park鈥攚ere all based on nearby geographic features or street names, in keeping with the city鈥檚 current policy.
鈥淚 appreciate the work that has been done on this project. However, I feel we have missed a wonderful opportunity,鈥� said Coun. Carol Zanon.
Zanon pointed to the city's existing naming policy, which prioritizes names based on geography, history, and local features, but also allows for recognition of 鈥減ersons of historical importance or community heroes.鈥� She said she believes there are individuals in the community deserving of lasting recognition.
鈥淎nd I would think that we have wonderful people in the background who we have not been able to honour, either through the street naming policy or through the parks naming policy, to my awareness at this point in time,鈥� she said.
Zanon also highlighted the need for public consultation, which is part of the current policy.
Coun. Garrett Millsap agreed, noting the policy hasn鈥檛 been updated in over a decade.
鈥淚 had a look through the park policy, and I realized it hadn't been updated since 2011,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o I think for me this is a real opportunity for maybe a little bit of a reset, a policy update for us, and then also just a call out to the citizens and the public that we need some new park names, because you can't just keep naming parks the same name as the street.鈥�
Coun. Tasha Da Silva echoed the sentiment.
鈥淚 think this is an opportunity with these parks for us to name it according to people that we'd like to honour,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o I wouldn't be opposed to maybe deferring this so that we could maybe take another look before we confirm these names.鈥�
For Coun. Rick de Jong, it was an opportunity for some fun.
鈥淣aming parks is a pretty unique thing to do, and engaging the public in that fashion is where I'm going,鈥� he said.
Council voted to defer naming the four parks until staff can bring back an updated parks naming policy for consideration.
