The annual flowers that bloom along the Pretty River Parkway medians may not return this year.
A staff report going to the Corporate and Community Services Standing Committee this evening recommends filling in the medians with cement instead of planting flowers.
According to the report submitted by Dean Collver, director of parks, recreation and culture for the town, the medians fill up with sand and salt each winter, and it’s a labour-intensive process to clean out the beds and turn them into a flower bed capable of supporting the annuals typically planted each year.
Additionally, staff must shut down the interior two lanes of traffic (one each direction) while performing the work. Maintenance of the flower beds also presents an additional risk, states the report.
Staff have considered alternative plants, some of which might be able to thrive in the higher salt content, however, those plants are typically invasive species.
A suggestion to raise the plant beds to prevent so much salt and sand from getting into them didn’t get support from the town’s engineering department due to the danger for motor vehicles.
So staff is recommending filling in the medians, maintaining the trees, replanting the trees that have died, and sourcing banners for the light posts that are already in place along the parkway.
There has already been $220,000 allocated in the 2019 budget toward this project, according to the staff report.
The Pretty River Parkway medians were installed in 2006, and they are in the centre of four lanes of traffic. Typically staff plant annuals along the medians, which also include black light standards and trees.
The medians were meant to create a “gateway” into Collingwood, according to the report, so staff will be looking “manageable gateway feature enhancements,” which includes banners on the light standards.
In March 2018, one of the light standards on the parkway fell over and an inspection revealed problems in 26 more.
The original non-galvanized, powder-coated steel poles were replaced with concrete poles.
The Corporate and Community Services Standing Committee can vote to approve the staff recommendation at tonight’s meeting, which begins at 5 p.m. at the town hall council chambers. Standing committee meetings are open to the public, and members of the public may speak to an agenda item, or non-agenda item during the meeting.
Click here for the staff report.
