The Village Greening Project for Rideau175
Design & installation of public gardens for the village of Burritt’s Rapids, ON (City of Ottawa & N. Grenville Twnp.)
Jan 2005 to Aug 2007
I initiated and led the community consultation, planning, funding (public and private), and installation of the Burritt’s Rapids public gardens in celebration of the 175th anniversary of the completion of the Rideau Canal. We consistently had more then 20 core team members who worked for more than two years to bring the idea to fruition.
The purpose of the project was two-fold: to beautify the village’s public spaces, making the village more welcoming to visitors and to create gathering areas where locals could informally socialize with one another.
Burritt’s Rapids is one of the oldest villages on the Rideau Canal and, by the strange luck of geography, straddles the Rideau River and Rideau Canal. The north side of the villages falls under the jurisdiction of the City of Ottawa and the south under the Township of North Grenville. This means that we regularly deal with two municipal governments.
Aside from the backyard of our community-owned community hall, the villages possesses no public space of its own. All of our public spaces are owned by Parks Canada, making them one of our primary stakeholders, and providing another level of governance, including consideration for placement of the gardens and use of space, seating, etc as well as consideration of the species of plants and trees in order to conform to historical requirements. Adding another level of complexity, the gardens and public spaces abut the Rideau Canal, which is, in part, affected by its UNESCO World Heritage designation.
Funding sources for the greening project included the City of Ottawa, the Municipality of North Grenville, the Eastern Ontario Development Program as well as private and public sponsors who provided money and in-kind products, services and discounts, and locals who purchased inscribed bricks to pay for the hardscaping. The project came in on time and on budget.
The official opening of the Burritt’s Rapids public gardens took place in August 2007 during the canal-wide Rideau 175 celebrations, attended by the Mayors of Ottawa and North Grenville.
