2002 01 24

Don Patrician

Recreation Programs & Facilities

City Wide Programs & Development

City of Calgary

P.O. Box 2100, Stn. M

Calgary, AB. T2P 2M5

Dear Mr. Patrician,

I recently reviewed the letter (attached) you sent to Ben Ellard on September 17, 2001 regarding the "Alberta Disc Sport Association Agreement with Alberta Environment and the City of Calgary for Pearce Estate Park" (refered to hereafter as the ‘Agreement’). In addition, I have also gathered and reviewed a number of other documents which relate directly to the Pearce Estate "Agreement’, and to the re-development of Pearce Estate Park.

This Pearce Estate ‘Agreement’ was negotiated by representatives from the Province, the City of Calgary and Alberta Disc Sport following the Open House for the Pearce Estate Interpretative Wetland Proposal Park (see attached minutes from May 26, 1999 Open House). You may recall that City of Calgary’s Administration, at that time, strove for this ‘Agreement’ between all the stakeholders at Pearce Estate ( prior to City Council considering the ‘Wetland Proposal’), as it had become clear that there was nearly unanimous public support for the retention of Disc Golf at Pearce Estate.

Public support for Disc Golf at Pearce Estate has subsequently been reaffirmed in a letter of support from the Inglewood Community Association (attached).

The Commissioners Report to S.P.C. on Community and Protective Services, dated July 21, 1999 (along with the Pearce Estate Park Interpretive Wetland Design Development Plan and the ‘Agreement’ as attachments) stated that the "proposed design and development plan has been achieved through a willingness to compromise by all stakeholders", and that "Calgary Parks and Recreation does not feel that the planned uses are incompatible as long as the site is not overused" (see attached copy of report to S.P.C.) In the same paragraph, it was stated that "Calgary Parks and Recreation will continue to work with the Alberta Disc Sports Association to find an additional location for disc golf ."

There was also an reaffirmation in the S.P.C. document of the important principle (contained in The Calgary Plan, primary planning document for the City of Calgary) of "multi-use and partnering", and that "the detailed design and construction drawings, including a downsized and redesigned disc golf course, will continue to involve all the major stakeholders".

Furthermore, in terms of financial impacts, the Commissioners Report stated that "the Alberta Disc Sport Association will raise the funds for the redevelopment and maintenance of the disc golf course." This fundraising has now been successfully completed by ADSA, with a grant for $6500.00 being obtained from Alberta Sport Recreation Parks and Wildlife Foundation for the express purpose of redeveloping of the disc golf course at Pearce Estate. In this way, Alberta Disc Sport Association has very been very careful to follow the terms laid out in Article 4 of the "Agreement’.

The Pearce Estate ‘Agreement’, and the ‘Wetland Proposal’ were subsequently approved by City Council on July 26, 1999, with the two amendments to the ‘Agreement’ that you mention in your letter; two ‘amendments’, incidentally, which were not subject to prior negotiation by the parties to the ‘Agreement’, and which were never subsequently ratified by the Alberta Disc Sport Association, then representing the disc golfers at Pearce Estate.

This notwithstanding, and as a result of this decision of July 26, 1999by Calgary City Council, City of Calgary "Administration was still required to:

1) prepare a lease agreement for the Disc Golf Course at Pearce Estate Park;

2. identify suitable alternate Disc Golf sites."

This decision by Calgary City Council was confirmed in a letter sent August 31, 1999 (copy attached), and this aspect of the ‘Agreement’ was re-confirmed verbally, to me, just 12 months ago.

However, your letter of September 17, 2001 now takes a very contradictory position, and states, in essence, that no Lease Agreement involving Disc Golf will ever be negotiated and implemented by the Administration for continued use of Pearce Estate, and that in Centenary Park an ‘acceptable’ alternate site to Pearce Estate has identified and developed.

During our discussions on Centenary Park I believe I was very forthright in stating that this location was not an acceptable ‘alternate’ (no public washrooms, parking, payphone, water fountain, or lighting) to Pearce Estate. Our discussions did reveal that the proximity of Centenary Park to Pearce Estate could draw players away from Pearce, (helping ensure that the latter park was not "overused"), that new ‘trial sites’ would not be overused (eg: West Confederation Park), and that the construction of the ‘Wetland’ at Pearce Estate could continue.

We also discussed the possible course layouts at Centenary Park as being quite limited, and that the site would hold little interest for ‘Advanced’ players once it was developed. We concluded our discussions by agreeing that the main ‘target market’ for the Centenary park site, (once the proper amenities were in place) should be Seniors, Juniors, and Novice players, and that Centenary Park, (because of space constraints and other park uses), would not have room for a full 18 basket course, unlike the courses at either Pearce Estate or at Dr. A.H. Baker Park, which were both 1^st Class, 18 ‘hole’ courses.

Your letter of September 17, 2001, when coupled with the fact that no recreational lease has ever been signed for Pearce Estate, clearly indicates that a very serious breach of the Pearce Estate ‘Agreement’ has now occurred. The implications of this breach of agreement, (apart from the issue of whether the Administration is ignoring the direction City Council given to them on July 26, 1999), are serious, and must inevitably raise a number of questions.

As an example, were all the parties to this ‘Agreement’ bargaining in good faith throughout this process? Did ‘special interest’ groups, city ‘advisory’ groups or corporate representatives who are unaccountable to the public successfully lobby the City of Calgary Administration to break the ‘Agreement’, and as a result convert Pearce Estate from a ‘multi-use’ to a ‘single use’ facility?

In addition,does the breach of the ‘Agreement’ now mean that there is no ‘quid pro quo’, namely the withdrawal of the Disc Golfers from Pearce Estate by December 31, 2005, as per the amendments made by Council on the 26^th July, 1999.

During my research I also discovered that BP Amoco used Pearce Estate as a venue for ‘active’ park use when their Intra Corporate Games were held in July 2000, an event that I was unaware, until recently, had occurred.

In an ironic twist, this event combined ‘active use’ with a large volunteer effort that mimics very closely Alberta Disc Sport Association events held at Pearce Estate over the years (see our very successful Adopt-A-Park program with over 4200 volunteer hours from 1995-2000).

I would like to know what bearing this event had on the decision to prematurely close the Pearce Estate Disc Golf Course in early May of that year? Was this premature closure of the Pearce Estate Disc Golf course at this time due to the imperative of this ‘volunteer’ opportunity for BP Amoco?

I am sure that you will remember that this rather precipitate action on the part of the City was, at the time, justified on the basis that the construction and engineering activities at Pearce Estate would (temporarily) endanger Disc Golfers, and that the baskets were being removed for our ‘safety’.

At the time, this entirely unexpected action on the part of the City had a very negative effect on the ‘trial’ we were attempting to run in West Confederation Park. Because of this ‘temporary’ closure of Pearce Estate, the West Confederation site instantly became the only Disc Golf course in the City of Calgary.

Rather than introducing Disc Golf gradually to West Confederation Park, as we had planned, we were ‘swamped’ with unexpectedly large numbers of players who suddenly had nowhere else to play. It is not an overstatement to say that this sudden influx of players caught us completely unprepared at West Confederation Park, and had a galvanizing effect on the nearby residents of that park.

Equally distressing alongside the loss of our courses has been the damage that park redevelopment has done to the landscapes at Pearce Estate and Baker Park.

Tree and shrub loss, and the collateral effects of compaction around tree roots from the use of heavy equipment has been extensive at both sites, and has been documented. For example, it was clear to me on my visits to Pearce Estate in 2001 that many of the remaining trees are suffering from ‘stress’ as a result of damage to their root systems which was caused by poor excavating techniques, and that the bird population (especially the smaller species) at Pearce has ‘crashed’ because tree and shrub removal and the consequent loss of habitat.

Since 1994, I have been told (while acting for the Alberta Disc Sport Association) many times by the City that the most important precondition for New Course Development has been public support, demonstrated either at Public Meetings, or through letters of support from the Boards of Community Associations who are identified as stakeholders in the particular park.

The Alberta Disc Sport Association and it’s representatives (myself included) have always accepted this process since it seemed both fair and democratic, and have always worked to secure public support when we were told by the City it was required.

Therefore, if either the City Administration, the Province or others groups, corporate or otherwise, wish to eliminate Disc Golf/Disc Golfers from Pearce Estate, (despite the strong public support for it’s continuation, our perfect safety record, and our record of stewardship at this park) I would insist that they should be required to meet the same test.

Another Public Meeting should, therefore, be held at the Sam Livingston Fish Hatchery in order to ‘reverse’ the results of the Public Meeting held there on May 26, 1999.

In addition, the Inglewood Community Association must also be asked, formally, to withdraw their support for Disc Golf at Pearce Estate, at one of their regular public meetings.

These public meetings would also serve a useful, public, and democratic function, in that they would be an excellent opportunity for a review of the both the public expenditures, and the engineering work undertaken at Pearce Estate in the past year and a half, with particular attention being paid to poor engineering practices; especially tree removal and major compaction issues. The environment at Pearce Estate Park would be well served if the only outcome of these meetings resulted in improved engineering practices for the upcoming construction that will begin again in the park in the Spring of 2002 .

I sincerely hope that the academic work being undertaken on the subject of Disc Golf at the University of Calgary in the past year will be seriously reviewed by City Administrators, and that this work, along with all the evidence that is available from other jurisdictions, will convince the City to make better choices for park redevelopment than have been made, so far, in either the case of Baker Park or Pearce Estate.

I also hope that when my City Government negotiates agreements with other recreational users in the future that these agreements will be honored, as it reflects very poorly on the reputation of the City when they are not. It is now ,very clearly, the responsibility of the City to make a very genuine effort to win back the trust of the disc playing community. The first step toward accomplishing this goal would be to honor the Pearce Estate ‘Agreement’, (you said you would), which includes

Article 1 ie: signing a Recreational Lease Agreement for the continued use of this park by the members of the Alberta Disc Sport Association.

Please do not hesitate to call me if you require clarification on the contents of this letter.

Yours truly,

Craig Burrows-Johnson PDGA ProMaster

2002 Alberta Disc Golf Tour Coordinator

Pearce Estate Park Adopt-A-Park Coordinator 1995-2000

cc: Fran Elson, Inglewood Community Association

Dave dePape, Sam Livingston Fish Hatchery

Alderman Dale Hodges

Alderman Joe Ceci,

Alderman Bob Hawkesworth

Alderman Diane Danielson

Michael Kenney, Manager, Planning & Development Services #54

Archie Lang, Manager, Central Park Division #88

Kyle Ripley, Coordinator, Planning & Development Services #54

Dave Elphinstone, Park Development & Operations #75

Shawn Nicol, President, Calgary Disc Golf Association