Changes are being made to the plaza in front of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 257 after opposition to the proposed design from the Legion branch.
Tom Whipps, a member of Branch 257's executive, delegated to council on Nov. 6, bringing along a letter from the president of Branch 257. He said that while the Legion is honoured to have the plaza in front of the branch named after the group, the Legion "very clearly articulated" its vision, and the proposed plan didn't match.
The previous design for the plaza included a log sign saying ‘Legion Plaza,’ as well as poppies, tulips and geraniums in planters. An anchor would be added to one side of the plaza, with a canoe at the other. A ‘beach scene’ with grass, stones and logs would separate the plaza from the road and discourage small children from crossing the boundary of the space.
Whipps criticized the planned elements.
"We, again, don't see that as part of our vision about what this plaza should look like and can look like," Whipps told council. "I know you'll deliberate on the money you're faced with spending on this and I know you'll give it every consideration, it's a lot of money. We are familiar with the deliberation disbursements of cash take, too, we spend much time discussing how we spend our hard-earned money and in that regard we spent more than $290,000 in the last four years in the greater community."
Following his presentation, another Legion member spoke, drawing attention to the group's previously expressed wishes for a display anchor as the centrepiece, benches with bollard and chain barrier. The Legion also requested no garbage cans or tables.
The delegations led council into discussing the process that led them to the current plan.
According to Mayor Mark Swain, in June 2023 the city first approach the Legion to ask if it wanted the space to be named Legion Plaza in honour of its longtime service to the community. The branch accepted.
The following November, a staff report was brought forward with design proposals including a preferred design by the Legion. That evening it was deferred in order to seek public feedback for Legion Plaza and further streetscape improvement.
"For some reason, all of a sudden the Legion design from Nov. 29 disappears," Swain said. "You may ask yourself, 'Well why did it disappear?' Well I think the simple answer to that is it's not like anybody on council was doing anything nefarious or anything, we had high staff turnover, we were in a state of flux."
In response, Coun. Ian Savage brought forth an amendment to change aspects of the design to meet current Legion recommendations.
Originally, there was motion on the agenda to pay approximately $1,000 to transport and install the anchor at the plaza. Following the presentation, the motion was amended, so that the plan also included replacing the log sign with two plaques worded by the Legion, and replacing the canoe with planters. The amendment and motion passed with Coun. Joan Jones, Jonathan Lerner and Savage in favour, and Swain against.
Instead, Swain advocated to going back to Square 1 and starting over with the original Legion-recommended design, calling what they had a "hodge-podge mess."
"I won't be supporting the amendment because I can't support the original motion, it's just that straightforward. It's a little late to start, in my opinion, considering Legion feedback. We disregarded the original design, and that should have been caught a long time ago."
In terms of benches, council voted to request staff obtain information on various models and costing for benches, so that it can be presented to council for approval at a later date.
