A new garden at Barrie’s Sunnidale Park with links to the pandemic is set to grow.
City council gave final approval Wednesday night to a motion that the Rotary Club of Barrie be permitted to finance and construct the Rotary Club of Barrie COVID-19 Heroes and Memorial Garden at the Sunnidale Road park.
More than two years in the making, the garden is to be an immersive, symbolic and reflective memorial and public space, to recognize the broader impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the community without any specific references to individuals, timelines or events.
“The last few years have been a time of upheaval, sorrow, uncertainty and hope,” said Coun. Amy Courser, who represents Ward 4 in this part of the city. “The COVID-19 Heroes and Memorial Garden will create a place of solace, reflection and healing for our entire community.”
Rotary officials have said the idea dates back to a time when COVID was only two or three months old and the World Health Organization (WHO) had declared a pandemic. The club hopes to begin construction later this month or early June, with completion scheduled for next September.
It’s proposed location is the demolished Sunnidale Park playground site, which was reconstructed and relocated in 2015 adjacent to the Dorian Parker Centre.
The club has received grant funding of $54,175 in 2022 from Community Foundations of Canada, which will cover about half the construction cost. The other half will come from the Rotary Club of Barrie and private donors.
More than two years ago, in April 2021, the former council approved a motion saying that in order to properly recognize COVID victims, all requests or recommendations for memorials be referred to the city clerk to maintain the list until the pandemic is declared over, at which time the clerk will review the requests with the municipal naming working group, or the appropriate departments for evaluation and response through a report back to general committee.
That same month, Rotarians presented their proposal to the city building committee to create a COVID pandemic heroes garden within Sunnidale Park.
On May 5, 2023, WHO downgraded the COVID pandemic, saying it was no longer a global emergency, although WHO said the pandemic has not come to an end.
While ‘The Garden’ is not specifically noted within the council-approved Sunnidale Park master plan, this project does support the strategic directions and goals of the Master Plan — by providing a new passive recreational opportunity and rehabilitating an abandoned area of the park for free public enjoyment and reflection.
The motion council passed Wednesday night is that Rotarians finance and construct ‘The Garden’ in Sunnidale Park, that it would become city property, that regular maintenance be done by the parks and forestry operations branch and that $3,500 be included in its 2024 operating budget to offset the increased annual expenditures related to the cost of utilities and maintenance.
