Article content continued

One of his neighbours — and it is hard to believe — bought a used 60-inch mower and cuts an estimated six to eight kilometres of grass pathway, opening up the site to dog walkers, cyclists, even deer. Neighbours chip in a 20 to pay for gas, no questions asked.

Today, it is this lovely oasis from Merivale’s retail hell, a gem of a spot that stands as an example of community guardianship — improvement, even — of public green space.

Well, all done informally, it couldn’t last, could it?

The City of Ottawa is proposing to build a maintenance and storage “facility” in Stage 2 of LRT, almost smack in the middle of this homemade meadow. It is massive — taking up about 40 acres on the site’s western end. (Stage 2 is scheduled for construction from 2018 to 2023 and will add 30 kilometres and 19 stations to the first LRT leg.)

So, where Minkus and his neighbour Ross McAlpine now look out on tamarack and yellow pine and this verdant maze of paths, there may well be an earth berm and a fence — together as high as a house.

In a detailed analysis, the city said the Woodroffe and Belfast sites scored highest for the maintenance yards, ahead of lands along Holly Acres, Pineview Golf Course, Aviation Parkway and Jeanne d’Arc.

It has pledged to maintain some kind of pathway system, though its report suggests the Woodroffe facility could eventually expand, as LRT rolls out its full phases. (Initially, trains will scoot over from nearby Baseline Station.)

The facility is to include a “light repair area” for daily wear-and-tear issues, workshops, a storage yard for materials, side yards to store trains, offices and parking. But make no mistake: at 40 acres, it’s a great, big geezly thing.