A children’s playground will replace a former homeless camp at the Victoria courthouse next spring once traces of methamphetamines and other chemicals have been removed from the site, the B.C. government announced Wednesday.
Minister of Citizens’ Services Amrik Virk said neighbourhood residents supported the idea after the tent city closed in August.
“It was just the right thing to do, to have a location for children to play — to have those sights and sounds in a city core,” said Virk, whose ministry is the landlord for the courthouse.
Virk said staff will consult with children at neighbourhood elementary schools, giving them a chance to help design the playground. The park will also include elements for adults such as benches and chess tables.
A price tag has yet to be determined, but the ministry said an anonymous donor has offered to make a “significant contribution.” No details about the contribution were released.
Virk said the park requires an extensive clean-up before construction can begin. A rat infestation has been eliminated, and an environmental engineering firm will remove soil contaminated with methamphetamines and other chemicals, such as accelerants, used around campfires.
“Basically, about a foot and a half of soil has to be scraped off that site,” he said. “It’s about 75 dump truck loads. … We’re taking no chances. We’re going to have kids on the site.”
The playground should be finished by early spring, he said.
Virk said there’s little chance of another tent city emerging at the site.
“The City of Victoria has explicit bylaws that prohibit camping on playgrounds, so there will be no camping on this site period,” he said.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said the park and playground will serve a growing numbers of families that are unable to afford houses and are moving downtown.
“We’re seeing lots of families moving into two-bedroom condos and those children need places to play, and I think that’s the impetus behind it,” she said. “Certainly, we’ve been pushing ourselves to create a downtown playground for some time.”
Rev. Ansley Tucker, dean of nearby Christ Church Cathedral, said the property was in need of improvements even before the homeless camp arrived last year.
“Frankly, that space before tent city moved in was under-used,” she said. “It was unattractive, it was arid, and tent city gave it a purpose and an identity, so a playground could do the same thing.”
She expressed hope, however, that planners find a way to memorialize events that led to the playground’s creation.
“I hope that we’re not going to think of this playground as a really clever way to repurpose the courthouse lawn so that tent city never happens again,” Tucker said.
“If we could think of it, instead, as a legacy of tent city — a perpetual reminder that something really important happened here — then I would feel better about that.
“The folks from tent city made this city stop and think about homelessness and poverty and the issues that give rise to it. I think that needs to be honoured.”
Stuart Hall, head of Christ Church Cathedral School, expressed hope that the project will have a “healing” effect on the community.
“The last year’s been difficult on everybody in the area and I think it will be a real positive story,” he said. “It will be an opportunity to bring people together to celebrate.”
