Castlegar city council will hear tonight from the public on an application to rezone Brandson Park to allow a mixed-use development.
The proposal calls for a multi-storey building with housing and commercial units on the park site and an adjacent city-owned lot. A park would be retained, though it would be smaller than the current one.
A relative of the man the park is named after is among those who say city council should turn the application down.
Bob Brandson drowned in the Columbia River in 1958, age 21.
“Growing up I realized my family was very water safety conscious,” his niece Alana Brandson says.
“My dad ended up being a diver for the RCMP because of this. It impacted our family quite a bit. My grandparents didn’t want to see another child or young adult drown. It was their dream to have a pool.”
From those tragic circumstances the Brandson family donated $500 and a committee raised another $6,000 toward what became the Bob Brandson Memorial Pool. It operated until the current aquatic centre opened and then was turned into the park.
“To have done that and have the community come together the way they did I think is absolutely incredible,” Alana Brandson says.
“You can tell how caring and amazing people were when this tragedy occurred. They rallied around my grandparents.”
Brandson, who lives in Vancouver, made annual visits to Castlegar to see her grandmother until she was 12. She has since brought her own kids to see the park.
She says she was disappointed to hear about the proposal and thinks that while housing is needed, other options must exist that will not sacrifice green space.
“To begin selling parks to a private developer, I think it’s terrible. It’s not even so much about the memory of my uncle but about the history and culture of Castlegar itself that’s going to be erased.”
Tonight’s public hearing begins at 6 p.m. at the community forum. You can attend in person or online.
Mayor Kirk Duff has said that while they have heard loud and clear from neighbours who object to the proposal, they want to get a sense of whether the broader community agrees or disagrees.
