Is there a plan for old community garden area?

Last evening I took a favorite walk along North Columbia, around the Credit Union and down past the old wildlife, garden area. I was shocked to see all the fruit trees gone, the bird-friendly habitat, the flowering shrubs.

Nothing left of the old “green field” that so many children played on when the building was Columbia School. The rose garden was gone, the lovely walk down from Fiddle Creek bridge.

Now we have rock piles, artificial edging and bare dirt. No one I asked seemed to know why so much had been destroyed, so much that was beautiful and in tune with the surroundings.

If the idea is to make the building look more like a bank, why not keep it looking like the welcoming area that it has always been, an area that fit the town and its people. We are a small, neighborly, welcoming community, and have always appeared that way to visitors.

As a person who has lived here on Columbia Avenue for 53 years, I would like to know why all the changes are taking place. Obviously, the work already done was expensive and unfinished. Is there a plan to revamp the whole area so that it becomes the beautiful place for people and wildlife to enjoy? I would appreciate any information from the management on the subject.

Carol Netzel