Families will be excited to hear that Trail City Council gave the go-ahead for upgrades to local parks this summer.
Gyro Park will enjoy a major makeover this fall with a new playground, while Lower Sunningdale Park will see a new irrigation system installed.
The capital project will decommission the aging Gyro swing sets and replace them with an innovative array of play structures and ground cover, complete with colourful swings, slides, climbing areas, Ogopogo elements and a we-go-round.
“The existing play equipment adjacent the spray park will all be removed,” said Trail Chief Administrative Officer, David Perehudoff. “The swing set will also be replaced. In addition, the project entails the installation of a rubberized surface.”
In the May 11 council, the city awarded the contract to Habitat Systems Incorporated, a company that has spent considerable time working with staff in the development of the design and selection of equipment. Habitat Systems will complete the project at a cost of just over $370,000.
Columbia Basin Trust also provided a grant of $25,000 to the project.
There was some concern that the project could not go forward due to the current pandemic restrictions, but the city is confident it can be completed.
“The decision to proceed at this time considered potential border delays and is reflected in the construction schedule,” said Perehudoff. “It is hoped the equipment will be landed in Trail sometime this summer with the plan to start construction in the early fall.”
City staff will remove the existing play structures and prepare the grounds for construction, and Habitat Systems will assemble and install the three different apparatuses, and the rubberized surface for durability and safety.
“Assembly can be quite complex and can be much more efficiently completed by the contractor and is built into the price. There are safety and liability considerations involving play equipment where it is critical that everything is installed properly and then a full safety inspection is completed before the equipment would be deemed safe for public use.”
Lower Sunningdale Park irrigation
Similar to the aging playground in Gyro, the irrigation system at Lower Sunningdale Park has seen better days.
Last year the city ran into a number of problems with the old hydraulic system, and costly fixes. One area of the irrigation lines could not be repaired. In addition, the Trail crew opened the irrigation system this spring, and identified new problems that would be in need of repair.
According to the Grounds and Roads Superintendent report, the repairs would be a large, unnecessary expense as funds had already been allocated (in 2020 budget) to replace the system in its entirety. Therefore, the decision was made to forego the repairs and schedule the project as soon as a possible.
The city allocated the work to AL-VA Irrigation Ltd. for a total of $73,000, a company familiar with the Sunningdale system.
The project was originally scheduled for the fall, following the projected seasonal use. However, the current pandemic saw the cancellation of park use, so the start date has been moved up and the city hopes to see work start in the next few weeks.
“Only the field will be impacted,” said Perehudoff. “With Covid-19 issues ongoing, the field has been closed and even as the city moves into Phase II of the Covid-19 response, fields will only be opening for informal play with no organized sports permitted, so the impact to the public should be minimal.”
The completion date was originally scheduled for June 15.