Dorchester could be home to a new Veterans’ Memorial Park in the coming years at the site of the former village office.
That’s if Tantramar council votes next month to move ahead with the recommendation presented by Andrew Amos of Catalyst Consulting Engineers Inc at the committee of the whole meeting on August 24.
While not the cheapest option, Amos said the firm felt a park could utilize and enhance existing features of the current green space to offer the best civic value and help align the park’s overall design.
 ”We think that right now, the park has a number of assets that aren’t really tied cohesively in a storyline. We think we could do that fairly straightforward with some walking paths, maintaining some of the key elements.”
Listen to the audio below:
The other two options were to demolish the municipal building without doing anything with the property, estimated to cost around $200,000, or to renovate the building and add necessary parking, which comes with an estimated $600,000 price tag.
The recommended option would run around $550,000, which puts the cost of the park around $350,000, with the cost spread out over three fiscal years.
As it is, the park is a great bit of green space in the middle of Dorchester, but it’s composed of disparate elements this plan could help unify, said Amos.
“ The gazebo’s great. The sandpiper exhibit is great. The cenotaph is great. We can work with those with some walking paths, some lighting, some plaques, an entrance, a kind of pavilion when you walk in. For relatively low cost, we could maintain what’s of value in the park and then augment it and have it all read cohesively as one.”
Ward 1 Councillor Alyssa Green, who represents Dorchester and area on council, commended the plans for the park, but had some questions.
 ”I will say that there’s a strong desire to have a bathroom facility in the Memorial Park, and so that has not been addressed. (And) I don’t see where the parking is on the diagram, so I am a little curious about that, but that’s mostly curiosity.”
Given the small footprint of the park, Amos said parking was deliberately excluded, but also pointed out council will have plenty of chance for input if they choose to proceed.
“This was really to get the conversation started. I think a public washroom always has a lot of benefit. It does bring with it operational costs and some risks, as we’ve learned with Bill Johnstone Park when we did that years ago, but it’s something to explore.”
Amos also presented council with three options for the former Dorchester fire station – renovation, demolition, or a hybrid.
Catalyst Consulting found several deficiencies with the two-storey section, including inadequate exiting, poor accessibility and aging electrical and plumbing systems, while the four-bay apparatus portion is in decent condition and could continue to be used for storage if updated.
Given the state of the two-storey portion, full renovation was estimated at around $2.5 million. Demolition alone was around $100,000.
The recommended option is to demolish the two-storey portion and renovate the remaining bays for continued use for $386,000.
Council will vote on both recommendations at the next regular council meeting on Tuesday, September 8.
For those looking to watch the meeting, head to Tantramar’s YouTube page. The full report from Catalyst Consulting can be found in the documents package for the meeting.
