Kincardine council has approved the updating of two playgrounds in the municipality.
The playgrounds at Kin-Huron Park and Parkwood Road are both scheduled to be updated, and staff outlined a minimum budget for $70,000 for the two parks combined.
Some members of council felt that because they two parks are less than 450 metres apart, they should be consolidated into one park.
The municipality had also sent out surveys to 149 addresses near the parks, and received a total of 267 responses.
Of the completed surveys, 71 percent of residents said that they would want the two parks to be maintained. Nineteen percent said they preferred that the Parkwood Road be the main location to focus on, and 10 percent of respondents said they would prefer to have the two park locations consolidated because of their proximity.
Councillor Bill Stewart pointed out that the Parkwood Park is very popular with families who live in the more rural areas.
“The Parkwood Park is actually [not just] for Parkwood,” Stewart explained. “People from Mystic Cove actually come to Parkwood. There’s a bridge and everything, they go through the path. People from Lorne Beach go. So this park is well used.”
Steward pointed out that people who live in those areas don’t have a park of their own, which is why they use the Parkwood Park.
The two playgrounds have equipment that is 20 years old. The municipality typically replaces and updates playground equipment at 15 years.
Staff also informed council that in order to bring both parks up to current accessibility and safety standards, the cost would increase to $100,000.
This caused concerns with some of council, as the additional money would be borrowed from the municipality’s lifecycle reserve.
Councillors Mike Hinchberger and Rory Cavanagh were concerned with budget constraints.
Cavanagh likened the move to, “Spending next year’s budget already.”
Stewart said that the updates were necessary.
“It’s astronomical, what the new standards are. I mean, you go and look at the [existing] playground equipment and they’ll say it looks great. But unfortunately, it’s rules and regulations by the provincial government that force us to do this, so we’re not upgrading. All we’re really going to do is basically replacing the existing equipment.”
He went on to consider safety concerns.
“And the one thing we’re going to do, especially Parkwood, we basically have bare grass, and we’re going to put a little bit of a safety zone around it and some wood chips in there, because it will be a little more safer for the children.”
With a recorded vote that resulted in a 6-2 result, council passed the motion to approve the $100,000 to update both playgrounds.
