The RDCK says it will hold a soft opening this weekend in Krestova for the second largest park in the district.
The 55-hectare Krestova Regional Park was purchased after $475,000 was raised in just over a month of fundraising and events.
Area H director Walter Popoff said in a media release he is excited for the opening and it couldn’t have been done without the efforts of the fundraising committee.
“We are excited for residents to enjoy the historic and cultural attributes of the property,” Popoff says. “This day wouldn’t be possible without the efforts of the Krestova Fundraising Committee who worked so hard to ensure we could create a community park.”
RDCK community services general manager Joe Chirico says everyone is encouraged to come out to the park this Saturday, but there will be no official opening ceremony planned.
“April 1 is the official day Krestova Park becomes a regional park,” Chirico says. “There will be no ribbon cutting planned, and the reason for it is because there is infrastructure we need to develop like parking.
“We will develop infrastructure over the next two to five years in the event people want to do public gatherings.”
Chirico says plans for the park are undetermined at this point, but public input has weighed heavily on the RDCK’s decisions and they intend to listen to public opinion when it comes to the future of Krestova Park.
“What we’ve heard primarily is to keep it in its natural state,” he says. “We’re not expecting it to be a place where we are turning it into a playing area, or adding some kind of an attractant that would be beyond the natural space that it is.
“Being natural is what we want to take advantage of, so we are expecting it to remain a passive park.”
This is the 27th regional park in the RDCK, which increases the amount of parkland to a total of 580 hectares.
The total purchase price of the park was $870,000, half of which was met by a private donor.