Hundreds of people ringed the perimeter of the Arrowdale municipal golf course protesting the city’s decision to sell the property.
The largest contingent could be found on Stanley Street, near the main entrance to the former nine-hole golf course, which the city said operated for the last time last year. Many carried signs and some took turns speaking to express their opposition.
The city has a deal to sell 32 acres of the Arrowdale property to Elite M.D. Developments for $14 million. The city said it plans to use proceeds from the sale to build affordable housing elsewhere in the municipality. Seventeen acres of the property will be used for a public park. The sale is on hold pending a court decision.
“We can have Arrowdale and affordable housing,” Kailee Poisson, president of Friends of Arrowdale, told the crowd. “Council just chooses to ignore the alternatives.”
She said her citizen group is committed to saving Arrowdale. She said earlier that Saturday’s demonstration was prompted by some of the group’s 2,700 supporters on Facebook.
Last month, Poisson delivered a petition with more than 7,800 signatures from people against city council’s decision in December 2019 to sell Arrowdale.
“We are standing here 16 months later and the city still owns it,” she said. “And that’s because of us, the Friends of Arrowdale.”
Gord Forbes and his wife, Diane, were among those who joined protesters along Stanley Street.
Forbes, 66, said the couple live near the the city’s remaining municipal golf course, the 18-hole Walter Gretzky Municipal Golf Course and Learning Centre, formerly known as Northridge.
“I play in the seniors league twice a week at Northridge, and I was here (at Arrowdale) a half-dozen times throughout the year. It was always packed.”
He said suggestions that Arrowdale was not being used by golfers are untrue.
“The membership was down a little bit, but the overall use for rounds played was way up.”
He described Arrowdale as a well-maintained course that’s beautiful to play.
“For the people that live in the area, as a green space, for the golfers, tobogganers, people that cross-country ski, or just walk, it’s a fabulous place, centrally located.”
Maria Duboy and Sierra Tompkins, both eight, were among the youngest taking part in the protest Saturday.
Duboy, who lives across from Arrowdale, has taken part in the course’s junior golf program since the age of four.
