The site of the former Riverport Community School is set to become a community park.

The Municipality of the District of Lunenburg who own the land recently approved a five-year management agreement with the Riverport Community Centre Park Committee which will now oversee the development of the park and its management.

“It’s taken nearly three years to get the property sorted out, but now that it’s taken care of we can really get to work,” said Park Committee Chair Natalie O’Mara.

Now that the site has been secured O’Mara hopes to begin work as soon as this summer, but says they will also need to start thinking about fundraising initiatives to cover construction costs.

“The management agreement makes it so we can apply for community grants, but we are also planning to do some fundraising for the park,” said O’Mara.

The Park Committee already conducted a survey using the former schools’ catchment area for respondents and asked them what things they’d like to have on-site. Receiving 280 responses the most popular request was for public bathrooms, followed by walking trails, a play structure, benches for sitting and a few other common park items.

A mock-up (image below) was also prepared to help visualize what the park could look like, though O’Mara noted that it is intended to provide what is possible and all features in it may not be included in the actual park.

A concept plan for the Riverport Community Park. Photo: Riverport Community Centre Park Committee.