No change
At the edge of the park, a man comes out of his mobile home. He says that he did sign the petition. He also does not want to be mentioned by name. He is afraid that he will be spoken to. Even though emotions have run high in recent months, he still feels at home at the recreation park. He and many others, who have been coming there for decades, don’t want things to change. And that’s not possible, he says. “If it is a residential area, the roads should not be dead ends. Look around you, everything is a dead end here.”
He acknowledges that there are problems, but cannot agree with the negative image that exists of the park. “There will certainly be people who have one too many cannabis plants,” he says. “But that doesn’t bother anyone.” He does not understand that the park must necessarily be vital and says that this only happens because the municipality and the board would benefit from the transformation. “They’re now lumping all the little problems together so they can say ‘look how bad things are going here,'” he says, shaking his head.
Tonight the city council will discuss a new letter of intent. This states that owners who wish to do so may continue to recreate for as long as they are the owners. Responsible councilor Herman ter Veen explains that this would not mean waiting for the development of a new residential environment, but that it could also be built around it.
However, there are no concrete plans yet for what the living environment will look like. First, both the council and the Owners’ Association must agree to the new letter of intent.