Sell ​​parkland to make a buck? Think again, Norfolk residents tell county staff

On nice days, Percy Ryerse Park in Port Dover is a hive of activity, with residents flying kites, playing catch and climbing trees.

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If the snow falls, neighbors use the open space to snowshoe and ski cross-country.

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In short, the park is anything but unused, Dover resident Meghan Palermo told county staff at a public meeting in Simcoe last week.

“This is not vacant land,” Palermo said, calling any suggestion to the contrary “uneducated.”

The park is one of 13 county-owned parcels of vacant land in Norfolk County earmarked as potentially suitable for sale.

The list — which also includes parkland in Waterford, Simcoe, Vittoria and Walsingham, along with empty lots and slivers of land elsewhere in Norfolk — was whittled down from 511 properties on more than 2,500 acres.

Council previously directed staff to consider what vacant public land could be sold to replenish Norfolk’s depleted financial reserves and fund municipal programs.

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Besides making some money on the sale, thinning out Norfolk’s inventory of unused land could lead to longer-term savings by reducing insurance and property maintenance costs, said Brandon Sloan, general manager of community development.

Norfolk is not in the construction business, Sloan said, but selling vacant lots in residential areas to developers is one way to potentially get new homes built and increase the county’s property tax base.

When considering parkland, Sloan said one approach is to sell a portion of the land and use the proceeds to improve the remainder of the park, such as with a new play structure.

“We’ve done an initial review, but we really wanted — before moving forward with anything, or anything going to council — to get feedback from folks who know these lands, live in these areas, and have information they can share,” Sloan said.

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County staff hosted three open houses last week, and a survey is available online until Dec. 7 at https://engagenorfolk.ca/Land-Review .

The county is considering selling the portion of Colonel Stalker Park nearest Greg Easto’s house in Simcoe.

“You’re eroding parkland,” Easto told staff at the Simcoe meeting. “Once you sell it off, it’s gone.”

Easto is worried once councilors get a taste of selling vacant land, it will become a habit.

“Where do you trust your council to stop?” he said.

Sloan assured Easto and the roughly 30 residents at the Simcoe meeting that none of the 13 shortlisted properties are currently for sale, and feedback from the community will influence what happens next.

“Nothing’s been decided,” Sloan said. “Nothing has gone to council in terms of recommendations on anything to make surplus.”

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It could end up that none of the properties are ultimately sold, he added.

“It’s not a fire sale,” Sloan said. “We don’t want to go sell something off and it turns out in five years we’re going to need it.”

As for Percy Ryerse Park, staff floated two options — cut the nearly three-acre park down the middle and sell half, or lop smaller sections off each end.

Palermo said it should not be on the list at all.

“It was gifted with an understanding that it would remain a park,” said Palermo, who presented documentation purporting to prove the Ryerse family donated the land in the 1950s to be used as a park in perpetuity.

According to county staff, there is no such restriction on the land title for the park.

Staff promised to review the documents and take residents’ feedback into account.

“We know the value of parks and green space in our community,” Sloan said.

JP Antonacci is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter based at the Hamilton Spectator. The initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

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