Esson Road beautification project gets funding boost, city involvement

Work will soon ramp up on the Esson Road beautification project, thanks to surprise funding from Halifax Regional Municipality District 3 Councillor Becky Kent.

Area residents had planned to use their shovels and elbow grease to kick off the project, a community-led initiative aimed at improving the pedestrian paths connecting Esson Road to Dartmouth South Academy and Research Drive. Instead, the site will soon receive a “scrub off” organized by HRM Parks & Recreation staff and carried out by a contractor, according to Kent, clearing overgrown brush and exposing the full extent of the parcel that community members hope to revitalize.

Kent told the Post that her district discretionary capital funds will support this new phase of the project, with a cost of just over $10,000. The project began with a $1,500 grant through Halifax’s Neighbourhood Placemaking Program, which community members will still use to purchase plants and other materials to improve the space.

The Placemaking Program aims to bring community interest and energy together to offer modest but meaningful changes to any part of the city, while fostering greater connections between neighbours. The additional funding from District 3 Capital Funds will allow for more dramatic enhancements to the area. Plans now include improving the informal pathway leading toward the sports field, which many residents already use regularly. The funds will be used to construct a more formalized – and safer – gravel pathway up to the field, with a new culvert over a frequently flooded ditch.

“HRM Parks staff are stepping up very quickly to support the community, as well, by moving this along quickly, outside of the scope of what was planned for this year,” Kent said.

Additionally, this new work includes removal of invasive roses from along the fence line, mowing down the area, and cutting any trees growing in the ditch. The project also aims to preserve and enhance existing natural features, including decades-old blackberry and raspberry bushes, while managing the invasive Japanese knotweed.

Kent said part of the cleared space near the top of the site could eventually become a community garden area.

Christian Ensslin, a resident on Esson Road and active member in the Neighbourhood Placemaking Program, said Councillor Kent’s help was unexpected.

“There’s a lot of thanks toward Becky’s initiative, and Becky’s involvement here,” Ensslin told the Post. “Without that we would just be literally digging weeds by hand.”

The community originally planned to complete work on the project this summer, but have since decided to hold off while the city works on the new path and weed removal. Ensslin said the community may plant some bulbs in the fall, but the rest of their involvement will continue next year.