Local group meet to discuss flood zone

Stephenville resident Derek Lomond was pleased with the turnout last week for a meeting he organized to discuss the future of Stephenville's flood zone area.

Mr. Lomond arranged the meeting through word of mouth and emails. About 20 residents attended, as well as Mayor Tom O'Brien.

"He suggested we wait until they get the pubic forum on the go and then do our election of officers and we can operate from there," he said of a request from the mayor before starting a committee.

Mr. Lomond said many of the residents who attended his meeting felt, as he does, that the area could be better utilized as something the community can enjoy.

"I see lots of possibilities for it. It's just a matter of imagination because it really is just a blank canvas if you want to look at it that way. I can see hiking trails and gardens - maybe English gardens, maybe Japanese gardens," he said.

"For tourist interests there could be a swimming pool there, a skateboard park. All possibilities exist, in a way."

Mr. Lomond said he and some of the other meeting attendees will most likely attend the public forum and hopefully be able to volunteer their time to seeing something come to fruition where the flood zone is concerned.

Speaking to Stephenville town council last week about the meeting, the mayor said he was pleased to see residents show interest in the flood zone.

"Some residents had some excellent ideas and in the very near future we would like to call a meeting for all residents of Stephenville to attend and put in their ideas and suggestions," he said.

"There's a quorum out there now interested in setting up a committee for it and I can see nothing but positive coming out of that."

Councillor Laura Aylward said she was pleased to see someone interested in starting a committee noting its always good to have other ideas.

She said another of the town's committees would help by tidying the area up.

"The beautification committee will certainly look at doing some work there this year, at least during clean up," she said.

The mayor said after the public meeting is conducted, the next step is to put together a master plan so there is a blueprint to follow and also to identify what kind of money needs to go into the project. He also noted the town will need to obtain some kind of funding for the project.

"So far we haven't been successful in tapping into any kind of money," he said. "If we can't do it all in one shot, we can do what we can each year until we get it done."

reporter@thegeorgian.ca