Recreation: SJF School Field

[May, 2008] The Winnipeg School Division has identified as surplus the property between Lanark and Beaverbrook streets at Grosvenor Ave. A public consultation process commenced with a public meeting Monday, April 28th, 2008 at Carpathia School, located on Carpathia Street.

The school board contacted those living within immediate proximity of the property in question. Residents interested in discussing the details will meet at Sir John Franklin Community Centre before this first meeting.

• April 9th, 2008 7 PM, Wed., - informal community meeting at SJFCC
• April 28th, 2008 7 PM, Mon., - first public consultation meeting, Carpathia School
• May 30th - deadline for submission of proposals to the School Division committee
• TBA - community meeting to discuss progress and proposals
• June 17th, 2008 7 PM, Wed., - second public consultation meeting, Carpathia School

Community members living and working in direct proximity of the park met at SJFCC April 9th and had a productive meeting, setting a direction for their efforts. They will work toward making a presentation at the first public consultation meeting.

In short, the sports field has been a public recreation field for nearly 20 years following the closure and removal of the school. It has established itself as a busy site of organized soccer for both children and adults and you can regualrly see as many as three games going on simultanously on any night of the week throughout the spring, summer and fall.

The future of the property will be determined in the next few weeks, with public input. It could possibly remain as a public space for continued use by those who have enjoyed it. Or it coould be developed for residential or other purposes. The impact on recreational opportunities in the community could be significant.

Dr. George McLean was elected to present the proposal decided upon by unanimous decision of the April 9th community meeting. That was presented at the first public consultation April 28th. After that presentation, Dr. McLean has contacted a number of people for advice, including school trustees, and met with the local city counsellor at City Hall. Numbers were received regarding soccer use as well.

The advice received indicate that there may be support for retaining the space as public green space for recreation (soccer etc) and leisure activties.

We were also advised that support for a dedicated space for an off-leash dog area would not likely be supported by the city. To that end, the dedicated fenced dog area will be removed from the proposal presented to the school board committee. Other aspects of the proposal are consistent with the April 9th meeting results.

Here's a little history of the property:

Sir John Franklin School was built and run by Winnipeg School Division from 1921 until 1989 shortly before its demolition. It was removed by the division and children are now served by the more modern Carpathia School, just a short walk to the west, Queenston School to the east and J. B. Mitchell School to the south.

(Sir John Franklin School was constructed in 1921, designed by Colonel J. N. Semmens, architect and built by Fraser and McDonald, general contractors.)

The school division property of more than 4 acres lies along Grosvenor Ave. between Lanark and Beaverbrook streets. It passed to Sir John Franklin Community Centre to maintain and use for the programs run by the community centre.

Until the end of 2004, the community centre provided staff and equipment to maintain the grounds all year, and kept the site clean and safe. This included mowing, game field lines and so on. The main activities we ran on this field were the soccer programs. We had two full sized soccer fields or one full sized and three smaller soccer pitches.

Following difficulties enforcing School Board rules prohibiting dogs on the field, the winter of 2004/2005 was to be reserved for rejuvination of the grounds, with measures taken to limit its use. Late in December, 2004, School Board trustees requested Sir John Franklin community centre hand full responsibiities back to the school division. School board rules remained in place on the field like any other school field, including the exclusion of any dogs at any time. Check information on the closest off-leash dog parks provided by the city.

Organized soccer returned to the field and the park has been used by children playing, people flying kites, walking and other activities. A wide variety of exciting ideas were discussed in 2003 to develop it into more of a park for people in our community. These ideas were presented to the school division without response.

The Sir John Franklin Community Centre Board passed a motion in April, 2008, supporting the retaining of green space for recreational purposes within our community.