A basketball net at Fountainhead Park in Orléans was reinstalled on Wednesday after it was removed amid after hour complaints.
Area councillor Laura Dudas said the city had received several complaints from neighbours involving noise, vandalism and crude comments from visitors at night.
The Bradley Estates Community Association says it does not support the removal of the basketball net. The association had its annual general meeting on Tuesday evening, requesting to Councillor Dudas that the backboard be reinstalled before the long weekend.
The backboard is being replaced by a board that will have rules developed by the community on it.
The community association says no complaints were made to Ottawa Police or Ottawa Bylaw. In a written statement, the association says, “We are sympathetic to our neighbours' concerns and strongly agree that they should not have to tolerate loud music or noise in the park after hours.”
The statement goes on to say, “The homeowners who submitted the complaint were informed by the City Councillor after the Easter long weekend that the net would be removed, despite their own concerns that an alternate plan was not in place. The community association and our residents were not informed until we investigated the disappearance weeks later.”
Dudas says moving the court to a different area of the park could be an alternative. A basketball facility at a new park being built nearby on Spring Valley Drive is also a possibility.
“I’m committed to finding some money to put towards that because I think our children, our younger people and our adults, playing sports is essential but it needs to be respectful of people who live close to these facilities,” says Dudas.
