Tim Bear and Gary Ward of the St. Paul splash park committee visited Town of St. Paul council last week to discuss the current state of affairs regarding the park, and announced a tentative opening date for July 1.
“I think that this is a joint project between various community groups, the community as a whole and council,” Bear said to council. “The committee will come up with our 25 per cent down payment ($85,000) to get us on the slate. If council is prepared to move forward with that project . . . we anticipate that the park will in fact be installed by July 1 of this year.”
Mayor Glenn Andersen expressed his support of the project and its location, set for Lagasse Park, adding, he believes it will be a great place for kids of all ages to spend time in the summer.
“I think it’s going to look really good in that location . . . It’s a nice park, probably under-utilized if anything,” Andersen said. “On behalf of council, we would like to thank (the splash park committee) for how you’ve got this far, and an exciting summer ahead of us.”
Bear said the splash park committee has “pretty much nailed down” the cost of the park at $340,069, not including site preparation. The toys and features of the park will cost $70,500, which Bear said would include a “rocket” water slide, described as a “special and new feature” added to enhance the park. The park will also feature a rubberized floor at a cost of $62,500, while installation will cost around $207,000.
Ward noted the rubberized floor creates a safer environment for children than concrete, and leaves little-to-no standing water behind.
“In most of the water parks being built now they are going to rubberized flooring because with concrete, kids get hurt on it,” Ward said, adding that codes dictate that splash parks cannot have more than an inch of standing water at any given time. “The water seeps through (the rubberized flooring) and follows the flow of the concrete that’s underneath it, so there is no standing water.”
Bear said the committee would also like to see the installation of a fitness park next to the splash park, at a cost of about $22,500, as well as a gazebo, for roughly $55,000, which would make Lagasse Park “a real family destination.”
He added, “It’s an adult fitness area, it will be wheelchair accessible,” and, “We’re hoping that families use that location as their little kids are playing in the spray park and it becomes a real destination for people.”
With the inclusion of these features, the total cost of the project would be roughly $430,653, a figure Bear says the committee is confident can be raised before the desired opening date.
“I am very pleased to say that we have raised pretty close to half the amount of money so far,” Bear said. There is currently about $202,000 committed to the park, not including grants.
“This is entirely fundraising from our community. That’s a pretty significant move toward the fruition of the park.”
Bear went on to say that if the first few months of fundraising are any indication of the months to come, the committee should have no problem having the splash park ready for Canada Day.
“Quite frankly, for our size of community to be two or three months, in earnest, into this project and already be at the halfway mark in terms of fundraising, and that being over $200,000, I mean that really speaks highly of our community,” he said. “We all know that it’s a community big on donating and big on families, so it’s really nice to see that come out, and we’ve barely got started yet.”
