Park project includes playground and (no admission) splash pad
By Mark Schadenberg
The ground work is mostly completed for the initial phase of the northeast recreation complex in Woodstock, and is so is the majority of the underground work.
The sod and clay is down for all three ball diamonds – a construction project which includes, but not limited to -- fences, concrete backstop, dugouts, lighting, netting for foul balls and an irrigation system.
The park also includes a concession stand building, which features washrooms, some storage space and a permanent shade structure for future use for tournaments and for quick cover in case of a passing storm.
Most of the construction at the site has been under the control of Woodstock parks bosses Brian Connors and Chris Kern, and chief engineer frrom the city Harold DeHaan, but has been piloted by Kitchener’s Gateman Milloy, who won the contract of over $2 million from Woodstock City Council, a set of blueprints which certainly also included sewers, hydro installation, parking lots, 2 massive retaining walls, perimeter fencing, a trail system along the west side of the property, and planting dozens of trees.
Mark Schadenberg, Harold DeHaan & Brian Connors
Photo from early on in building project.
As chair of the Woodstock recreation advisory committee (WRAC) I have spoken as a delegation to city council 3 times in recent years, as have other committee members including Dan Gray and Laurie Fraser. The Woodstock minor ball association and slo-pitch leagues have made their pitch to council as well in recent times, but it wasn’t until the fall of 2014 and the passing of the Recreational Needs Assessment Study penned by Monteith-Brown and the city’s capital budget for 2015 that the work finally began.
As an exercise of tracking, the WRAC has received reports directly from minor ball and the many local leagues depicting exact numbers of players, teams, schedules, ball diamond allocations, and even where the players reside. It is also very much understood that many Woodstock athletes compete in leagues elsewhere such as Dorchester and London.
New ball diamonds in the City of Woodstock might not yet meet the demand for the various slo-pitch leagues, fastball and youth ball. The eventual plan would be for a total of 5 ball diamonds at this new site.
Picture from 2015
The current land moving and excavation still occurring this fall is for a children’s playground and free splash pad – an obvious secondary need for a park of this size in a new subdivision, and at a corner of the city requiring recreation facilities. ABC Recreation, which is based in nearby Paris, has the contract for this creation and vision. I refer to both the water feature and playground equipment with a term like vision because the City approves a budget and sets out strict criteria about what the Woodstock parks department expects to see based on age groups, playability, built-in safety and durability, and then the pictures and plans flow in from the various playground companies. I’m very pleased that ABC is the successful bidder for the installation and design as they have both smart and cost effective play structures already in place in Woodstock, including the main Southside Park playground.
This particular photo was taken by Chris Kern on Dec 1
and shows servicing work and outline for playground and splash pad
I must add that since the City must use a competitive bid scenario for such large contracts. I will point out that Shanna Larsen memorial park on Upper Thames is playground equipment from Landscape Structures (playlsi.com) based in Minnesota and includes an innovative zip-line ideal for any child as young as 7, but the distributor and installer of Landscape Structures is – you guessed it -- ABC Recreation.
Meanwhile, the David Lowes memorial park on Lakeview Drive had the successful bid from Henderson (hendersonplay.ca) from Simcoe.
Above 2 pictures taken today (Dec. 7)
BACK TO THE BIG PICTURE
The city’s Needs Assessment Study as written by Monteith Brown with public consultations, city council reports, neighbourhood surveys, extensive meetings with all municipal user groups, online questionnaires, open house format meetings, and preliminary reports presented to WRAC, created a guideline or game plan for the City to attempt to adhere to for approximately the next 10 years. The report, therefore, was about ball diamonds and demand for improved fields, but everyone took part in this overall discussion – minor hockey, figure skating, football, cricket, youth basketball, competitive swimming (swimming lessons are a different concept and concern), gymnastics, curling, and the City analyzing participation numbers in its own programs such as tennis lessons.
The recipe list of possible future ingredients for this 80+ acres of recreation space could include, but not limited to – indoor gymnasium, satellite library with accompanying meeting rooms, an arena (Speaking for myself only, by the time the Civic Centre Arena becomes obsolete there will be a very close analysis made for demand for ice time for all arena sports and age brackets, including figure skating, hockey and even short-track speedskating), an outdoor pool, outdoor pickleball / basketball / tennis courts, or a skateboard park. These additional features may be encompassed into a 20-year plan of several phases.
These 5 photo taken by myself
LINKS:
Looking back:
Pages 23-46: file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/12-december-10-2015-councilagenda%20(1).pdf
June 2014 blog:
2013 Story:
http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2013/01/15/baseball-complex-report-received-for-woodall-farm
Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty
Independently Owned & Operated, Brokerage
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination
No comments:
Post a Comment