Developer Who Promised Parkette Over A Decade Ago Hoping Town Will Settle For Trampoline In Niece's Backyard On Weekends When Children At Their Dad's

A parcel of land slated to to be a parkette for the residents of a Beeton subdivision sits empty to this day. While initial plans were made over a decade ago, childhoods have passed without any progress on the project. That could all soon change. The developer is now offering to build and sell more homes on the land in exchange for an even better offer to the residents of Beeton: the use of a trampoline in his niece’s backyard on weekends when her kids are visiting their father.

“I think we can respectfully come up with a solution that works even better than the original plan,” the developer said in a public statement. “And that is the use of a trampoline located in my niece’s backyard when her ex begins taking the kids for a weekend a month, which apparently he’s going to start doing very soon.”

Instead of providing children, teenagers, and families with yet another place to loiter, the land will earn millions more than initially anticipated for the developer.

“Imagine you bought a house across from this land thinking your kids would have a parkette to play in,” Ross Schmidt, a local Beetonian, told the Alliston Gerald. “Your children would now be either moved out of the house or the perfect age to enjoy this trampoline, ironically.”

The individual who sold the developer’s niece the trampoline also reached out anonymously to the Alliston Gerald to express concern.

“I sold that thing for recreational and residential use only. It has a few springs missing and the netting is missing due to the whole apparatus having survived a fire. I personally would want a cut if it is now going to be used more widely and taken on by the town.”

The developer claims the land has a slope that would be unsuitable for a parkette but perfect for new homes. While many pro-parkette, anti-trampoline residents see this as a cop-out, Michelle Thibeault is not one of them. 

“Slopes are tricky business,” Thibeault told reporters. “I personally feel bad for the developer. I mean, what does a business that specializes in residential development and construction know about the kind of landscaping required to correct a slope? And, a park with a slope? I’ve never heard of such nonsense.”