Morden Park Site Development Plan
In November of 2009, Friends of Morden Mine (FOMM) initiated the first step in the process of creating a site development plan by hiring Gemella Design Inc as the consultant to prepare this document.
FOMM believes that the development of the Historic Site and Trail could become a major cultural and tourist attraction, an educational interpretive centre for early coal mining on Vancouver Island and a community gathering place. The scope of the proposed Site Development Plan then is to obtain a comprehensive report that can be used as a guideline, a strategy and a tool for fundraising to achieve these goals.
Restoration of these structures is an immediate priority if they are to be saved. FOMM has already commissioned and received engineering reports on the feasibility and estimated cost of restoring these structures.
FOMM, BC Parks, the RDN and the City of Nanaimo made equal contributions to fund the costs for this development plan.
The MORDEN PARK SITE DEVELOPMENT PLAN is intended to collect information, define a proposed direction and to provide options and recommend priorities and actions to BC Parks, Regional District of Nanaimo or both in the short and long term with a 5 year focus. It should be of interest to adjacent communities (Nanaimo and Ladysmith) who would benefit the most from such an attraction.
The Morden Park Site Development Plan endeavors to include the following objectives:
- Identify potential uses of the site to accommodate visitors, tourists, school excursions and other uses related to the historic and cultural significance of the site.
- Identify location of interpretive centre, staffing, parking areas, access and other logistics related to site development. Include a preliminary landscape plan that includes parking, picnic area, toilets, interpretive features, trail development etc.
- Integration of this site with the Morden Colliery Trail and proposed management structure for the site.
- Identify and provide solutions to mitigate for possible conflicts in the use of this site and the nature trail or other stakeholders not yet identified.
- Alignment with new or existing neighborhood plans and organizations.
- Comparison with similar resource developments in other BC or Vancouver Island communities and sources of funding used for these developments.
- Provide visionary recommendations for the development of the mine/nature trail at Morden colliery and projections of associated costs and time schedules to develop this site.
The success of the public process component of the Morden Park Site Development Plan could be achieved through ‘open house’ events or town hall meetings for the public at large. Some of the objectives for such consultation may include the following:
- Provide a meeting place to allow for a meaningful level of involvement of local community associations;
- All positions and input received will be considered; not all input can and will be accommodated;
- The integrity of a broad public interest must be paramount to the process and must not be superseded by any individual or interest group;
- A minimum of two (2) Open Houses held in the South Wellington/Cedar area to solicit views, comments and opinions on development/restoration of the Morden mine site in conjunction with the Trail system and receive comments prior to the preparation of the final document.
Submissions can also be e-mailed to info@mordenmine.com and are welcomed from anyone interested in preservation of this historic site and/or enhancement of the adjacent regional trail.
Anyone interested in partaking in this process or in providing input is welcome to contact FOMM Directors listed on our website: mordenmine.com