Paddling and a square full of terraces, but the removal of parking spaces continues to hurt. ‘Coevorden has everything as a town’

Let’s also hear it from a relative outsider, Frank Smit (53) from Haarlem. “Coevorden is a town that has everything. Atmosphere, history, a beautiful appearance, cozy terraces. I like coming here. So much so that I am looking for a home in or around Coevorden. Haarlem is beautiful, I live in the city center. But here it is pleasant, the people are friendlier, life is less hurried and fortunately it is not nearly as busy as in the Randstad.”

‘I wouldn’t want to live in Emmen’

Smit grew up in Southeast Drenthe. His mother still lives in Nieuw-Schoonebeek. “She is almost ninety, one of the reasons why I have been coming to Drenthe more often lately. Traditionally we have been going to Coevorden. I also visit Emmen, but I wouldn’t want to live there. Just like in Klazienaveen, with that elongated center without a real village heart. No, then Coevorden. It breathes history and there is excitement. And you can simply park your car there on the Market.” Still, but more about that later.

These are beautiful words from Smit, especially for a city that had to come from far away. Vacancy, hidden history, a castle that seemed to have had its day; The Coevorder city center was still having a hard time around 2008. The euro had already been introduced years ago, but its deterioration made a colleague sigh in the newspaper that it seemed as if you could still pay with guilders in Coevorden. Although the plans to bring back water, conviviality and history to the city center dated back to 2001, very little of this was visible around the Markt for a long time.

Castle

The center’s approach is therefore a long-term project. The implementation is progressing little by little. The Castle has not only been restored and transformed into a hotel-restaurant, its hideous salmon-pink appearance has also made way for a sturdy brick appearance. A passage with a walkway was created from the Market, so that the Castle no longer seemed hidden away.

Old bastions were rebuilt. Large engravings were placed in the streets of historic buildings to remind passers-by of the special place. Just like gravestones, which in this case you are allowed to walk over. Vacant shop buildings at the ends of shopping streets were given residential use, making the actual shopping center more compact.

Poor people

The large lawn between the Castle and the Market, the Orphanage Meadow, was given a park-like appearance. With blue flowers that symbolize the moat of yesteryear and a steel construction that goes by the name of berceau. In other words, a foliage corridor under which castle ladies could walk without getting a tan from the sun. Because in the past, only people who worked on the land, i.e. the poor, had that.

After almost a quarter of a century of planning, it is now the turn of the Market and the inner harbor. As the last major project for the time being, as if Coevorden had deliberately passed on this hot potato for a long time. Because no matter how beautiful the plans are, they come at the expense of most parking spaces on the central square. And that hurts. Politicians will discuss it on Tuesday evening.

Everything will be fine, say Coevorden residents we speak to. The covered hall on the Market. The water feature that refers to the origin (Koe-voorde, or a fordable place for cows around which Coevorden arose). The water playground at the head of the inner harbor for paddling and skating, should it ever freeze again. Good plans, is usually the verdict. But about parking: in the real city center, only 19 of the total of 93 parking spaces remain.

‘Middle class cannot do without parking on the Markt’

“And parking is a big problem,” says branch manager Monica Roelofs (54) of Oogwereld/Stegeman. “Our business comes to a relatively large number of people who have difficulty walking. They can usually only walk a short distance.” The municipality of Coevorden repeatedly points out that the loss of parking spaces is compensated with expansions nearby. In the worst case, you only have to walk an extra 300 meters.

“But that distance is already a problem for some of our customers. Really, I am full of praise for how the Orphanage Meadow has turned out. And that water playground will probably be a lot of fun too. Just look at Emmen, what a success paddling is there. But the middle class cannot do without parking on the Markt.”

Frensie Kurvers (83) will also miss the convenience of parking nearby. “It will be difficult if almost all parking spaces disappear. New parking spaces have been added to the Molenbelt, but it has almost always been full since the arrival of a fitness center in the Gansehof. So that is not a worthy alternative.”

The Home Care employee who visits her client, the man who has to run a quick errand, the woman who has to go to the town hall; they all fear they will soon have to park further away. Eric Hartong (46) regrets that chestnut trees are being cut down to realize the center plans. “They are exactly what Coevorden is.”

Plane trees saved

The nine plane trees on the Markt itself could barely be saved, after Coevorder politics recently came out against their felling or relocation. Catering entrepreneurs around the Markt had complained about nuisance and allergic reactions due to the trees, after which Coevorden decided to remove them. The municipality has now reversed this.

Bram Grit (59) is enjoying himself on a bench in the park near the Castle. “I come here regularly, because it has become so beautiful. And it will only get better, because everything will soon grow. As a result, the steel of the berceau will also be completely covered with leaves. The water playground itself also seems very nice, but I am afraid that it will become polluted. They can throw anything in there, especially late at night.”