Sandra Thomas writes this week in the Vancouver Courier that Kits Point residents are up in arms after learning that the city was to build a sidewalk on the tiny green space located at the tip of Kits Point named Hadden Park.
Hadden Park was donated to the city by wealthy developer Harvey Hadden who according to area resident Megan Carvell Davis would be rolling in his grave if the city’s proposal went through.
Davis told the Courier that the proposal went against everything Harvey Hadden wanted for the property. Davis added most people don’t know the area is called Hadden Park and assume it’s part of Vanier Park because the two parks are adjoining.
In 1928, Hadden, an English businessman, bought the land from the CPR and donated it to the city with strict conditions, including the retaining the park for public recreational use and keeping it as natural as possible, restricting the beach solely for swimming and forbidding any encroachment onto the property.
No need to worry. Thanks to the fast work of Davis and members of the Kits Point Residents Association this travesty has been avoided.
“But as it turns out,” said Carvell Davis, “the sidewalk isn’t actually going in Hadden Park. It’s going in Kits Point Park. Even the city doesn’t really know where Hadden Park is.”
Looks like the City of Vancouver gets it right at least some of the time.
Last modified: April 4, 2018
