Done.
Good Afternoon Sir,
I am writing in response to the plans recently made public to build a $75M water park facility on a large piece of property in the immediate vicinity of the Forks National Heritage Site.
As a former urban planning student at Simon Fraser University, I am appalled at this proposal. A large, car-oriented public recreation facility, whether it be public or privately run, does not fit the urban fabric of the area in question. This area has shown a great deal of promise in recent years as a pedestrian-oriented destination with the coming Canadian Museum for Human Rights, expansions at the Children's Museum, and mixed-use developments north along Waterfront Drive, and in St. Boniface. A waterpark is a facility for families to drive into, disappear within the walls, then come out and go home.
Granted, the facility would represent development of a prime piece of property that is presently underutilized, and another hotel in the area would certainly could be beneficial to the area. However, I firmly believe that a better use of this parcel of land would be for a large mixed-use development including ground-level retail with 4 - 5 levels of condos above, and perhaps public space and walkways. Tie this development in to possible future conversion of Union Station to a transit hub, which could feature a future LRT station. Concerns about the rail mainline nearby could easily be mitigated with modern construction techniques, architectural features, etc.
I emplore you to please voice your opposition to this project in its present form. As a father of a 9-month old infant, I do agree that this city needs a significant new water-oriented recreation facility. However, I would recommend that the city look for a hotelier partner that would be willing to build this project as part of the Seasons of Tuxedo development, which is intended to include several regional destination retailers (such as IKEA, Cabelas). This project fits the nature of that development much better, and leaves the prominent lands available at the forks for redevelopment that makes more sense for the area.
Thank you for hearing my concerns,