Council Agrees To Take More Time To Consult With Residents And Explore Alternatives To Laying Down Pavement In Historic Memorial Park
A News Commentary by Doug Draper
Posted December 11th, 2025 on Niagara At Large
Thorold’s beloved Memorial Park, hosting the cenotaph for honouring the community’s war dead. photo by Doug Draper
“We made some progress,” Gloria Leahey, a Thorold resident and a leading member of Friends of Memorial Park told this reporter, shortly after the city’s council voted this December 9th to investigate possible alternatives to extending a parking lot for a seniors’ centre onto the green grounds of the historic park located in a charming old neighborhood near the municipality’s downtown.
“Power to the people,” added Tami Friedman, another leading member of the Friends group, who delivered a heartfelt presentation to the council at the December 9th meeting.
Power to the people, indeed.
It was only this past November 18th that the city’s council had before a motion to extend as many as 40 asphalt lots into the 106-year old park, complete with a cenotaph there to honour those in Thorold who fought and died in the First and Second Word Wars and Korean Wars, and the motion would quite likely have passed had it not been for the quick work of residents to go to that November meeting and convince the council to at least entertain some consultation.
The city’s council and staff then held a public information session on November 24th before coming back this December 9th with what it called an “Option B,” to reduce the number of parking spots it would extend into the park from 40 to 25.
But the Friends group stuck to its guns with its message to council that if the seniors centre needs more parking for those who use it, find other ways of getting it other than paving over green space in the park.
The cenotaph in Thorold’s Memorial Park, dedicated to those from the community who sacrificed their lives in World War I, World War II and the Korean War. Even though the park has been designated a heritage site under the Ontario Heritage Act, the City of Thorold has been eyeing some of its grounds for more parking.
“The (parking expansion) project has raised red flags for many reasons,” Friedman told the council, “including the loss of beautiful green space that Thorold residents of all ages use and love, the potential for environmental degradation, the proximity to parkland with a provincial heritage designation, the impact on traffic patterns and road safety, the effect on property values, and more. And yet, it seems, none of these considerations have been taken into account.”
“Go back to the drawing board,” Friedman continued at the December 9th council meeting. “First, take steps to address existing parking concerns at 8 Carleton St. South (where the seniors’ centre is located) such as reserving existing spaces, posting signs clearly indicating who can park where, imposing time limits, imposing fines, and towing as needed. Second, once this has been done, conduct a robust survey to gather data about the building users’ actual parking needs.
“Once these efforts have been undertaken, call a public meeting to share and discuss the findings. Then, and only then, take a holistic approach to identifying and assessing options that are environmentally sound, culturally appropriate, and designed to serve the entire community’s needs.
“It’s not too late to protect our green space and restore our confidence and trust. Please, do the right thing,” Friedman said.
“From everything I know about urban design,” said Leah Bradshaw, another area resident who taught about that during her many years as a professor at Brock University, “this proposed parking expansion is just wrong. It is short-sighted and it will corrode the enviable character of Thorold. I understand that there is a successful seniors’ centre in the downtown core, and that is actually a great thing for Thorold .I am a senior myself. I also understand that senior citizens have issues with mobility.
A plaque showing Thorold’s Memorial Park’s designation as an Ontario heritage site.
“But I do not believe that the remedy here is a new parking lot. Surely there are other avenues worth exploring for gaining access for seniors to the centre.” Bradshaw said.
Four residents spoke in all, including former Thorold councillor Shawn Wilson who grew up in the neighbourhood surrounding the park and Evan Anhorn, who recently moved into the area and spoke about how much the park means to his young family. Many others attended the November 24th public information session and emailed statements to the mayor and councillors expressing their concerns about the loss of any green space in the park.
After taking all of the residents’ comments in, one councillor after another agreed that a greater effort to solve the senior centres’ parking needs without disturbing the park is needed.
“Maybe there are other things that can be done here,” said Councillor Ken Sentence. “We should go back and look at other options.”
“I will not support this project the way it is,” added Councillor Anthony Longo
By the end of it all, the council voted to direct the city’s staff to go back to the drawing board, consult with the residents and come back early in the new year with other solutions to the seniors centres’ parking needs.
Niagara At Large will be posting more news about the effort to save the green space in this historic park in the days and weeks ahead. Stay tuned.
And in the meantime, we can all take this as a good example of how democracy can work if we, as citizens, exercise the rights and freedoms we have to stand up and get engaged in issues of interest and concern to us.
To watch the December 9th, 2025 Thorold Council meeting where the park issue was discussed, click on the following screen and use your cursor to move the little red ball at the bottom, left hand corner of the screen to the proper spot in the meeting –
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