COMMUNITY MAKES WISH LIST FOR FUTURE

MIDDLE SACKVILLE
By Yvette d’Entremont – The Weekly News
Halifax News Net
February 27, 2009

Residents who attended the first public community visioning forum for Middle-Upper Sackville and Lucasville on Monday had some very definite ideas about how they want the region to develop over the next 10 to 20 years.

More sidewalks and accessible walking trails, road and infrastructure improvements, innovative planning policies and affordable seniors housing were among the top items on the wish lists of the 30 residents who participated in the Feb. 23 public forum.

The meeting was the first of two being held this week. Volunteer members of the Middle-Upper Sackville and Lucasville Community Visioning Committee are inviting residents to share their future vision for the area and to suggest what improvements they’d like to see implemented.

Participants who attended Monday’s forum broke into small groups and brainstormed during a series of round table discussions. They were asked to focus on what they believed were the community’s assets and to list three wishes they had for the community’s future.

Topics included commercial and economic development, quality of life, recreation and parks, the environment as well as infrastructure, services and transportation.

“You would expect to hear the issues of traffic and sidewalks, but there were a lot of things that came up that I wouldn’t have been aware of,” said visioning project committee volunteer Nick Antoft. “The issue of seniors housing in our community keeps coming up and I also heard issues around getting access-a-bus services.”

During a round table discussion focussed on quality of life and civic pride, Lucasville resident Linda Hefler said communities located within the study area had a strong, vibrant black culture and historical treasures that should be more broadly celebrated.

“There’s also a ton of history with the Sackville River, mills, and the fact that in our area we have two of the oldest churches in Sackville,” she said, highlighting the importance of St. John’s Anglican Church and Sackville United Baptist Church.

A number of participants agreed that the community’s greatest assets included its volunteers, the Sackville Heights and Wallace Lucas community centres, the Springfield Lake Rec Centre, the MetroLink service, its accessible lakes, and clean air and water.

“Somebody pointed out that it was an asset that we had a lack of industrial development because that led to our clean air and water,” said visioning committee member Ann Merritt.

The second community visioning forum is being held Saturday, Feb. 28 at the Sackville Heights Community Centre from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. The reception and open house starts at 1 p.m. with round table discussions beginning at 2 p.m.

Activities will be provided for children, but parents and caregivers are asked to contact the committee in advance so they can prepare.

“This has been a huge time commitment on the part of the volunteers,” Antoft said following the meeting. “But after an evening like tonight, I’m refocussed and reinvigorated to keep moving forward and to create a really good product that will benefit the area.”

More information about the community visioning process is available online at www.halifax.ca/visionhrm

All correspondence to the Middle-Upper Sackville and Lucasville Visioning Project committee can be sent to msclg@eastlink.ca

ydentremont@hfxnews.ca
27/02/09