Saint John's Rainbow Park being significantly reduced to build new school

Luke Beirne · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 31, 2025 1:19 PM EDT | Last Updated: 8 hours ago

Large sections of Rainbow Park — an country built to supply recreation abstraction and a playground for radical surviving successful Saint John's southbound end, an country with precocious levels of poorness — volition beryllium removed to physique a caller school.

When the caller schoolhouse is built, determination volition inactive beryllium a parkland space, but it volition beryllium smaller and with restrictions connected section use. 

The caller school, which volition amended astir 450 students, is being built to regenerate the Prince Charles and St. John the Baptist/King Edward schools.

St. John the Baptist/King Edward School is connected St. James Street successful the little southbound extremity and Prince Charles School is connected Union Street, adjacent to Prince Edward Square.

After construction, assemblage members who aren't students volition lone beryllium capable to usage the parkland extracurricular of schoolhouse hours, according to Saint John's Shape Your City website.

The caller schoolhouse volition beryllium bordered by St. James Street, Sydney Street and Charlotte Street, according to Marc Dionne, manager of parks and nationalist works. 

Dionne said that each existing trees volition beryllium chopped down. New trees, however, volition beryllium planted.

"The Rainbow Park playground is going to beryllium removed arsenic portion of the caller schoolhouse footprint," Dionne said successful a caller interview. 

The existing Jumpstart playground volition remain, arsenic volition the splash pad.

"When we revitalize this area, we're besides going to see a caller tiny tots playground [and] immoderate greenish abstraction for the nationalist to sit," Dionne told Information Morning Saint John. 

Several cardinal elements of the parkland volition besides beryllium reinstated, helium said, including the assemblage gardens, canine parkland and the Turner Brewer Memorial.

The Turner Brewer Memorial is simply a memorial plot successful honour of John Turner and Jacqueline Brewer, who died separately successful the mid-1990s arsenic a effect of parental abuse. The memorial was enactment up successful 2017, astir 20 years aft their deaths. 

The parkland utilized to person a plaque successful their memory, which mysteriously disappeared years ago.

The metropolis has agelong a improvement program for the area, but enactment has lone precocious begun. 

Dionne said the plan's archetypal signifier volition beryllium removing trees to marque room. Next, the metropolis volition revitalize the country betwixt Broad Street, Charlotte Street and Sydney Street.

The radical that runs the southbound extremity assemblage centre PULSE (People United successful the Lower South End) is keeping an oculus connected the changes astatine Rainbow Park. 

In a statement, centre chair Heather Chase expressed pleasance for the "ongoing investments" and "the improvement of the caller school," but said the assemblage indispensable beryllium kept alert of each changes to the neighbourhood and beryllium "actively involved" successful the process.

"We are peculiarly looking guardant to continued dialog connected respective cardinal issues, including the assemblage garden, the Brewer-Turner Memorial, replacement of affordable lodging units, and the interaction of the caller schoolhouse connected recreational assets and playground equipment," the connection said.

Chase said the radical understands restricted entree to playground instrumentality for information reasons, but besides hopes the metropolis continues to enactment with them to maximize benefits.

Details of the plans are disposable connected the Shape Your City site.