About 50 immature trees will come down in Coquitlam’s City Centre neighbourhood to make way for a temporary garden.
Fences are now up around the site, located directly north of the City Centre Aquatic Complex (CCAC) on the eastern part of the city-owned parcel, for the food security project.
Parks manager Kathleen Reinheimer told the Tri-City News the 50 plots will be used by the residents whose Town Centre Park allotments were forced out in 2022 for the Metro Vancouver water main that’s being installed along Pipeline Road.
Those 50 gardeners can start planting in their new 4x8' beds by late spring. Reinheimer added the interim community garden will be gated and fenced — to protect against wildlife.
During the tree removal, no nests or nesting birds will be disturbed, as the bird nesting window starts March 1.
Last April, city council OK’d the land use and funding request for up to $125,000 to clear the site, regrade the soil, install a water service and provide storage.
Currently, there are four formal community gardens in Coquitlam, each with long waitlists:
- Colony Farm Community Garden
- 650 plots
- Burquitlam Organic Community Garden
- 82 plots
- Scott Creek Garden
- 48 plots
- Burke Mountain Pioneer Park Garden
- 29 plots
