Greenhill Gardens in St. Clair Township will remain closed for the foreseeable future due to various factors, making it difficult to maintain the property.
The St. Clair Region Conservation Foundation announced the immediate closure on Monday, June 16.
The foundation referenced ongoing challenges such as vegetation management, infrastructure concerns, and limited staffing and resources.
In an interview with Sarnia News Today, Executive Director Ken Phillips also referenced illegal activities at the site.
"Unfortunately, what's happened is we've had a perfect storm of events come together that really we couldn't manage," he said. "We had a lot of issues with vandalism, unhoused people occupying the property, the property being used for activities that aren't necessarily legal."
Phillips also said high repair costs factored into the board's decision to close the site.
"The cost for some of the repairs were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, which was simply money we do not have," he said. "Unfortunately, we just made the decision to close the property until we can reevaluate and see how we can move forward."
Phillips said a future evaluation would consider picking up operations again or potentially selling the property.
"The foundation owns a 100 acre parcel of land that the Robson family donated to the foundation, the garden is just a very small corner of that so we just need to look at what is feasible in terms of the operation of the gardens," he said.
Phillips said discussions were held with the estate of the Robson family to go over the current situation.
"We know it's going to cause disappointment in the public," he said. "Unfortunately, the harsh reality of the nature of the property is such that it requires an incredible amount of maintenance and we simply do not have the resources to do what's necessary to keep it up to public expectations."
The property, located at the corner of Wilkesport Line and Indian Creek Line, features a six acre garden, a 19 acre woodlot, and 74 acres of agricultural land.
It's unknown exactly how many people visit the gardens. Phillips estimates there were 25 to 50 people who would go through the property per week. The site was used for events, such as weddings and graduation photos.
"The visitation numbers were not to the point where you could sustain the maintenance cost of the [area]," he said.
Events and other bookings that were scheduled to take place at the property have been fully refunded.
The foundation is a charitable organization that raises money to support conservation programs and initiatives focused on education, tree planting, wetland protections, and upgrades to conservation area facilities.