Welcome to the Pottery Road Park Website

The Friends of East Hill Parks is a group of Greater Vernon residents dedicated to the establishment of a new regional destination park in the East Hill subdivision in Vernon, BC Canada.

This website was created to keep North Okanagan residents informed on what's happening on the property at Pottery Road and 15th St., and to encourage participation in the effort to create a park that will benefit the community today and into the future.

If you are a resident of East Hill, you can appreciate the limited park options you have. While the area has 7 official parks, with Lakeview Park being the largest and most multi-use, the other 6 are residual pieces of land that have been developed into mini or "tot" parks.

Fair enough. However, even by the city's own parks planning document, East Hill is severely under-parked, when you consider the established standard for park area per resident population.

But all is not lost. In fact, we are quite excited and cautiously optimistic. The Friends of East Hill Parks has identified a large undeveloped property at Pottery Road and 15th St. which is wholly suitable for development into a park, potentially twice as large as Lakeview Park, in terms of size and multi-use functionality.

SURVEY

The survey is now complete! We received an unbelievable number of 1,011 respodents. There is CLEARLY a great interest establishing a new park at Pottery Road.

Here is a summary of the survey results. 78% (787) of respondents live in East Hill, the remainder live in greater Vernon. 95% of all responents are in favour of creating the park. As you can see, there is quite a wide range of preferences for the types of activities the proposed park would support.

We’d like to thank everyone that participated in the survey. We will use this valuable community-based information to further the case for the park with Vernon city planners.

Know the Facts

From our discussions with Greater Vernon and East Hill residents, we've found there to be a lot of confusion and uncertainty as to what the plans are for parks in the area. At the present time, there are no plans for additional parks in East Hill. We believe this is short-sighted, and a disservice to residents of East Hill. Our effort is to encourage City Council to formally adopt the creation of a new East Hill park in the field at Pottery Road and 15th St.

As we continually add content to this website, hopefully you will feel better informed on this incredibly important issue. You may even want to get involved in the movement to create what could be an amazing new park that East Hill residents will love and cherish for many generations to come!

Step Forward and Make a Difference!

In the News

Owners willing to donate property for new Vernon, B.C. park: advocacy group - Global News, June 30, 2022

Proponents of a proposed park on Pottery Road in Vernon are excited after landowner said they would donate land for park. “East Hill has a shortage of park land,” said spokesperson Randy Schellenberg. “One very exciting piece of news is that the current owners of the property have offered to donate the 10-acre parcel to the city, under the condition that the city comes up with a park design and a reasonable time frame for constructing the park.” - Castanet, June 25, 2022

Friends of East Hill Parks spokesperson Randy Schellenberg is interviewed by Castanet media, April 9, 2021.

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