Future plan for Mayor Vernède Park and surrounding area

Green area

Due to the central location of Burgemeester Vernède Park, its proximity to public transport stations and its many amenities, the park will continue to be a place visited by many people and where many different activities take place. The Burgemeester Vernèdepark will have a stronger own identity, with more diversity in the greenery and more opportunities to stay, move and meet each other. The park will have a better connection with nearby parks via the Delftsewallenwetering. The cycling and walking routes will also be improved.

Sports and education

Traditionally, many sports facilities have been located in Burgemeester Vernède Park. The sports clubs would like to stay there, some have expansion wishes. The 2BHome building (located on the corner of Delftsewallenwetering and Van Stolberglaan) will eventually be demolished. A new multifunctional sports building will be built on this site. The new sports building will have a double sports hall with facilities for school gymnastics, korfball and basketball. The Jeu de Boules club and Racing Club that are now elsewhere in the park will also be housed in the sports building. The park will also house a pavilion for youth culture such as music and dance school, freerunning and community work. The skate rink from the park will also move to this location.

Educational institutions have also been located along Paltelaan from the beginning. The current elementary schools will remain in the area and furthermore, there is room for 2 educational functions on Dr. J.W. Paltelaan.

Housing

The pressure on the housing market is great. Therefore, the vision for the future looks at where housing construction is possible. There are opportunities for up to 600 new homes, especially for 1 and 2 person households, such as starters and seniors. There are wishes to realize communal housing in the area, especially for the elderly, inspired by the concept of the Knarrenhof. The possibilities for this are being further investigated.

There is room for housing development on an empty lot on Dr. J.W. Paltelaan, and space will become available when De Driesprong swimming pool is demolished. There are also plans to replace the office building at 185 Eerste Stationsstraat with an apartment building up to 45 meters high with 150 to 200 homes. On the first floor will be workspaces and a parking garage. This replaces an earlier plan of 280 to 320 homes with a building height of 90 meters that proved unfeasible after a participatory process.

Participation

The new plans for Burgemeester Vernède Park and Dr. J.W. Paltelaan were created after an extensive participation process with residents, sports clubs and other organizations. Alderman Ronald Weerwag (housing) is pleased with how this went: "At each stage, we presented ideas to collect arguments for and against them and used those in turn to take the next design step. In this way, we brought together all the information and interests and now have a widely supported vision for the development of this area."

Continued

The future vision is a draft environmental program that will soon be published through the Environment Desk and views may be submitted on it. The information can then also be found at www.zoetermeer.nl/vernedeparkpaltelaan. Any views may give rise to adjustments. The college then adopts the environment program, after approval by the city council. Subprojects are then launched to begin implementation.