Thanks to a partnership between the City of Vernon and FortisBC, a new publicly-accessible parking lot is now open at Carlson Park in the Commonage area.
Creating a safe access point to the park off Bench Row Road, the city-owned parking lot features 12 stalls in total, including one (1) accessible space. Residents and visitors will notice a black chain-link fence surrounding the perimeter of the parking area and a double dog gate to help with the control of the on and off leash areas.
“Carlson Park has always been a wonderful spot to take a nice little walk in the woods, but parking was always an issue,” said Mayor Victor Cumming. “Residents who enjoy visiting this hidden gem, now have a safe and easily accessible place to park. I’d like to thank FortisBC for working so closely with City staff to make this project happen, and have it work well for everyone involved.”
[Above (L-R): FortisBC senior project manager Michael Defeo, FortisBC project director Scott Bartlett, Mayor Victor Cumming, Councillor Teresa Durning]
In the spring, the City of Vernon and FortisBC completed a land sale agreement for 0.45 acres to accommodate a FortisBC pressure regulation station and the 12-stall parking lot.
“The proximity of our system upgrades to the Carlson Park off-leash dog area provided an exciting opportunity for FortisBC to give back to the community,” said FortisBC project director, Scott Bartlett. “As we are committed to making our systems even safer, we decided to construct a parking lot beside our facility to provide a safe place for the public to park their vehicles when accessing the park, rather than on the side of the road. We are grateful for the City of Vernon’s support with this project, and we hope residents will enjoy this space even more now.”
The parking lot at Carlson Park will be open from dawn to dusk, seven days a week.