Armstrong park, pickle ball courts and playground equipment
By Mark Schadenberg
PART TWO:
Every
city – Woodstock most certainly included naturally – needs an
abundance of green spaces for parks and trails and for nature.
Keep
in mind, like all municipal services parks cost money as trails need
to be maintained, grass must be cut, and playground equipment needs
to be upgraded and replaced.The city parks department under the helm of Chris Kern and recreation department boss Brian Connors (pictured) have done a terrific job building new playgrounds for children and improving others.
A
drive around the Friendly City will see sparkling new (replacing
olde) play sets at Armstrong Park, Eastdale School (City paid for
senior elementary equipment, while school fundraiser built primary
area), Les Cook Park, the tiny neighbourhood park on Marlboro Court, and elsewhere.
As
the city grows and expands brand new parks are popping up, including
the David Lowes Memorial Park on Lakeview Drive on the west side of
Highway 59. As chair of the recreation advisory committee (WRAC), I
wrote the report to city council to have the park named after the
prominent local businessman and volunteer who passed away a few years
ago. With a hearty thanks to the Rotary Club and its massive
donation, that playground set might be among the top three in
Woodstock.
Playground equipment is not cheap, and when you factor in the installation, landscaping, walkways, and many safety features, a brand new impressive playground set could easily cost north of $150,000. This is where my tax dollar question would apply. If everyone is mobile (car and bicycles) and assuming (we should never assume, I realize) families will and can travel a relatively short distance to an impressive array of climbers, slides and swings, should we or should we not expect a gigantic park project every 10 blocks or so? Sometimes, parks do become too much of a good thing due to the 'dollar signs' attached. At Armstrong Park (pictured), an ancient swing and teeter totter were replaced with quite an expansive and impressive structure.
Less
than two municipal blocks north is Park Row park, which has also
enjoyed a transformation as ancient tennis courts have been converted
to pickle ball courts and an adjoining basketball court has been
refurbished. The pickle ball venue (pictured) will be a destination-by-car court
space as only demand will demand getting more built.
I'm
not running for city council (not this term anyway), and I do wear
both my Realtor's hat, which wants to promote all neighbourhoods, plus
my WRAC toque when I suggested a few massive budget items are not far
away, including the Woodall Farm park (About 96 acres fronting on
Devonshire Avenue and east of Ecole Marguerite Bourgeoys) which must
happen. That park will require another set of modern monkey bars,
sway features and pretend climbing walls. That park will also require
a 'free community' splash pad feature and another pool to replace
Lion's Pool on VanSittart. The main focus there must remain a minimum
of four correct-dimensions ball diamonds as its absolute top
priority.
Mark
Schadenberg, Sales Representative
Senior
Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal
LePage Triland Realty
757
Dundas St, Woodstock
(519)
537-1553, cell or textEmail: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
Discussion
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