Veterans Memorial Bridge recommended as new name for downtown bridge

The Norfolk Street Bridge could soon become the Veterans Memorial Bridge.

That's one of five recommendations being made to Guelph City Council by the city's naming committee.

The pedestrian bridge that connects Northumberland Street over Norfolk Street, just west of City Hall, is scheduled to be upgraded as part of the Wilson Street Parking Lot project, which is currently delayed and not expected to get underway for several months.

The naming committee came up with Veterans Memorial Bridge as its recommendation for the bridge's new official name after council, through a motion put forth by Mayor Cam Guthrie, recommended a name change.

"The capital budget for the new Wilson Street Parking Garage will pay for the supply and installation of a visual element that commemorates veterans. Staff will work with the architect to determine what design and method of recognition is appropriate," says the naming committee's annual report that is headed to City Council's Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday.

The naming committee is also recommending:

- the naming of a City Hall meeting space as the Marg Mackinnon Community Room in recognition of the second woman ever to serve on council.

- the naming of a section of existing city trail north of Woodlawn Road as Robbie's Path, in recognition of the late community activist Robbie Montgomery, the teenager who successfully opposed a condominium development on the banks of the Speed River in that area in the 1980s.

- the naming of a section of existing Grand River Conservation Area-owned trail at the end of Dawn Avenue as Dodge Lane, in recognition of the Dodge family farm that used to sit on the area.

- the erection of an educational sign at the York Road Park, near the covered Bridge, as a tribute to the work of Jessica's Footprint, the former annual successful fundraising effort 'A Walk In The Park' that was held at the park in memory of Jessica Durigon.

The committee had previously denied a request to name the park in Jessica's honour but the naming of a portion of the park is a possibility in the future as the city further deliberates the naming of York Road Park.