City Council has given approval for staff to remove the concrete memorial, which was designed and built in 2012 to honour local citizens with the installation of bronze plaques. However, since its construction, only two plaques have been installed.
The City said they are looking to remove the concrete memorial to add green space to Rotary Park and finding another opportunity to still honour its prominent local citizens.
“Creation of more open green space for visitors to Rotary Park while reducing clutter in a very active park space downtown is the reason behind the City of Cranbrook’s decision to remove the concrete memorial planters,” said the City of Cranbrook. “With reduced events and reduced public use of Rotary Park due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was an appropriate time to undertake this project.”
Public Works will remove the concrete planters, allowing for grass to grow this spring. According to the City, the concrete will be ground up and reused for some of their road projects later on in the summer.
“There was good intent behind the memorial planter, however, there has been very little uptake,” said the City. “The bronze plaques from this space have been safely removed and will be re-installed under a new program.”
The discussion around the City Council table on Monday was to incorporate the two plaques as part of ongoing discussions with a working group. Currently, discussions are underway to develop a new program to recognize Cranbrook’s prominent citizens. That sparked after the removal of the commemorative banners that hung along Highway 3. With the removal of the concrete memorial planters, the plaques will be added to the new recognition program.
