Upgrades near completion
North Sydney park project nearing completion
The Munro Park project will soon be completed.
The project, which is being done in two phases, is just over 90 per cent finished, according to the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
Work is now underway to build a storage facility, which will be used by the Northside and District Minor Soccer Association.
Once the storage facility is built, the municipality will install a new playground at the park and that work is expected to begin in the spring.
“The first stage (of the project) was to get the soccer field, drainage and bleachers completed for the opening of the Kraft Play Project — once that was done we moved on to the second phase,” said Allan Clarke, CBRM manager of parks, grounds and buildings.
In 2015, Munro Park won a $250,000 grand prize in the national Kraft Play Project competition, which was used for upgrades to the soccer field.
Construction began on the project in May 2016 and the field was completed in time for the grand opening in June 2017.
“Soccer is a huge sport right now in Cape Breton — there’s a lot of kids playing soccer, so the demand for soccer and an elite field on the Northside is very good,” said Clarke. “It’s a stateof-the-art field, it really is, with drainage and all the amenities to go with it — it’s been well received by the community and all the soccer clubs.”
Aside from the prize money, the park received $100,000 from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, while the Cape Breton Regional Municipality also provided $100,000 for the project. The province chipped in with $50,000.
Along with a soccer field, Munro Park, located off Queen Street, also features a boardwalk that runs along the water.
Currently, the boardwalk is disconnected near the parking lot as construction takes place on the storage facility.
“The boardwalk is going to be rerouted around the building,” said Clarke.
The municipality hopes to have the entire project finished by June.
“It will depend on the weather,” said Clarke. “April and May sometimes could be wet months, so if the ground base is too soft then we’ll hold off, but I’m hoping it will be ready by then.”