The District of 100 Mile House is moving forward with its plans for a 50th Anniversary Legacy Park.
Aimed as a small, but tranquil, park featuring a covered shelter, benches, water feature and a walkway, it will offer a resting place for seniors and other residents walking along Cariboo Trail and Horse Lake Road.
It will be situated on a wedge of land at the southwest corner of the intersection of those two roads, where decorative trees were planted and water service was installed by the District last fall with funding assistance from BC Hydro and Trees Canada.
Councillor Bill Hadden says the park will be fully wheelchair and low-mobility accessible.
"I'm actually kind of excited about it. It's one of those things that’s doable and it's a good spot because we've got a pile of development [in the subdivision] up there, and we've still got more development going on there."
The District gained the land years ago when it closed a roadway there, he adds.
"From Birch Avenue over to Cariboo Trail, those didn't used to line up – there was always a 'dog-leg' there. Before, you used to go over about 50 feet, which was god-awful."
Hadden notes the re-circulating water feature steps down in seven-to-eight inch drops without wasting any water.
While there are no sidewalks on the park side, there is a crosswalk there and many people already walk along that west side of the street with "no big issue," he says.
"We have got tons of seniors living up there. That walk from downtown to Cariboo Trail is a long walk. So by putting this feature in there, it's a resting place at the halfway point, and at the top of that little climb from Safeway's parking lot past the South Cariboo Theatre and on up."
He adds when the empty lot between there and Highway 97 eventually gets developed, the park will likely complement that.
Hadden says the legacy of the park will recognize the 50th anniversary of the District of 100 Mile House, so it is hoped to be completed by the time those celebrations happen July 18-26.