A three year fight to save Sarnia's former Kinsmen Centre site from residential development has paid off.
In a 7-1 recorded vote, council decided to rescind a decision made last term to develop five new residential lots on the south side of Baxter Park.
Giselle Owen was among a group of neighbours who filed an appeal with the Ontario Municipal Board lobbying for continued use of the property.
She addressed council again Monday, saying she wanted to give the new group an opportunity to turn the situation around and avoid a three day OMB hearing in August.
"I'm thrilled, I was hoping for this, but I never know what to expect with council," said Owen.
She said the group will focus on enhancing the park now.
"I would love to see some park benches, maybe a fountain, a sign for sure that says Baxter Park and public beach -- because right now, nobody even knows it exists," she said.
Councillor Margaret Bird said the attitude toward parkland needs to change.
"We have all kinds of documents in place, official plans, parks and rec plans, both from the city and the county, that say parklands will never be sold," said Bird. "Why do we bother producing all of these documents, if we don't refer to them. We totally ignore them. I think that's a total waste of time."
Councillor Mike Stark voted against the motion.
"We would not be denying the public anything less then what they had prior to when the Kinsmen Centre operated in its previous form," said Stark. "I think we need to look at the reality of operating a city that relies upon tax revenue, and estimating the tax revenue on this particular five properties, that's something in the order of $25,000 per year. Seems to me to be a significant contribution to the overall benefit of all of the ratepayers within the city."
Councillor Brian White was absent from the meeting.