Login | Register

School land needs to be preserved for green space
Tuesday July 29 2008 By Rob Strang, On Politics The Orangeville Lions Club shouldn’t be the only ones concerned over the sale of the green space east of Amelia Street by the public school board. Whether or not you’re a soccer or lacrosse player, we all benefit from these fields. They don’t only provide much needed recreational space for our local athletes, but the fields host tournaments that bring people from afar to Orangeville.
It’s exciting entertainment on our doorstep and I’m sure a bit of a boost to the local economy. We are very lucky to have so many fields in close proximity to each other, the parking at the schools and the concession stand at Tony Rose arena.
Soccer and lacrosse are huge in this town. Looking at women’s lacrosse alone on the lacrosse website, there is a senior division, an under 19 year division and an under 15 division. Six out of the 42 women’s field lacrosse teams are from Orangeville. Presumably that means 14 per cent of all players in the Ontario Women’s Lacrosse League are from Orangeville. We have more teams than Toronto, Mississauga, Oshawa, Kitchener or anywhere else in Ontario!
Undoubtedly, it is the years of dedicated work of soccer and lacrosse organizers that has paid off with incredible participation in field sports among our youth. The trend will hopefully continue. They need our support and probably more playing fields in the future.
Beyond these obvious direct benefits to our community’s quality of life, recreational green space is fundamental to a healthy community. I recall our former police chief drawing a connection between activity programs for youth and lower crime rates. Healthy people also have lower health care costs. While many people talk about the epidemic of obese children and the related disease risks, protecting our recreational land is a means of actually doing something about it. I’m sure our community is bucking the national trend and we should be damn proud of it!
Now that’s all easy to say, but protecting this land will take money. Ideally, all the communities whose taxpayers have an interest in field sports would take ownership of this issue. But that may be too optimistic. It will probably come down to a decision to buy the land with money earmarked to reduce Orangeville’s debt, a painful decision for a council apparently dedicated to debt reduction, but borrowing to buy land is quite different from borrowing to replace roads or equipment. Road and equipment depreciate with time and eventually require more capital to replace. Land just appreciates in value, with minimal maintenance, all the while providing essential recreation space for a vital part of our town’s culture.
I understand that Orangeville town council has indicated to the board of education that they are interested in securing the land as green space forever. I’m hoping that they do.

Rob Strang is a former Orangeville Town Councillor, a professional engineer, an occupational health consultant and a father of three.

North Peel Media Group Newspapers: The Brampton Guardian Caledon Enterprise Independent & Free Press Orangeville Banner