The debate continues about what to name a new green space on Coquitlam’s Burke Mountain.
According to the results of a recent survey, Burke Mountain Pioneer Park was selected by 35% of the 124 respondents as their first choice and by 35% as their second choice.
West Hyde Park was listed in second place, with 27% choosing the name as their first choice and 23% choosing it as their second, while Hoigaard Park received 27% support as a first choice and 14% as second choice. Burke Farmstead Park and Burke Mountain Paddock Park were also options in the survey.
“I think the public has spoken in a very clear way here,” said Coun. Terry O’Neill. “I think the results are very clear.”
The city is not bound by the survey results and several people have stated that they would prefer a different name.
In a letter to the city, Sandra Marsden of the North East Rate Payers Association said her group would like the park to be named Hoigaard because it would acknowledge one of the early pioneer families in the area.
Coun. Brent Asmundson, a Burke Mountain resident, concurred, telling council-in-committee that the name “better ties into the history of the area.”
He rejected some concerns previously raised that Hoigaard is difficult to pronounce.
“The uniqueness of the name leads people to better understand where the park is,” he said. “When I look around our city, we have a lot of areas where parks have different names,” noting Minnekhada Regional Park, Maquabeak Park and DeBoville Slough.
Because council was discussing the name of a family — Hoigaard — a decision was made to receive the staff report and continue the discussion in a closed meeting.
Currently, the park is referred to as Wesbild D9 after the development company that previously owned the land before handing it over to the city as part of a townhouse development elsewhere on the property.
Raul Allueva, the city’s general manager of parks, recreation and culture services, said there is no formal process for naming a park and most are usually named after the street they are on.
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