Wolfville takes on Clock Park

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

Kings County Advertiser

Wolfville town council has approved an agreement transferring the Clock Park land from Irving Oil to municipal ownership.

The two newest councillors, Keith Irving and Jim Laceby, voted against the motion. Irving said he would have preferred the town hire an independent environmental engineer to certify the land was remediated from a gasoline spill.

Keith Irving indicated a letter from the department of the environment “means nothing. “The risks (in taking over the land) may be very low, but we don’t what they are.”

Laceby added his decision was not taken lightly. “This is not about the generosity of the Irving family or the hard work of the mayor.”

He indicated he had been told while electioneering in 2008 Wolfville is “already allocating too many resources to parks.”

Laceby added he wasn’t sure council had sufficient control over the project.

Deputy Mayor Hugh Simpson told council the land was “a great gift from the Irving family to this town.”

He added the project had been 10 years in the works, and brown field development is being done successfully all across this country.

Simpson made the motion of approval and it was seconded by David Mangle.

The value of the gift, including the millenium clock, is about $500,000. The agreement stipulates the land can only be used as a park.

An Irving-owned gas station sat on the site for many years until a gas leak infiltrated the downtown sewer system. About a decade ago, when the gift idea was raised, the town set aside $125,000 in its capital reserve fund to landscape the park. The local IODE purchased trees. Arthur Irving added an oak tree to the site several years ago. He also hired a landscape consultant, who worked on the Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens, to prepare an elaborate design.

Remediation work began over a decade ago. In January of 2005, the owners were using a multi-phase vapour extractor on the site. Irving spokeswoman Jennifer Wood says the property would eventually be certified compliant, or clean, by the province.