Yarmouth splash park committee seeks site and funding streams
Cost for project estimated at $350,000
There are still questions to be answered before youngsters can splish-splash the hours away in a Yarmouth splash park.
Linda Gallagher made a presentation about a splash park during the Municipality of Yarmouth’s Jan. 8 committee of the whole meeting.
She described the many advantages of installing a splash park for free, healthy, unstructured play.
“Not only would it address issues within our community, it would also be an enhancement for attracting people to come to Yarmouth,” she says.
“Having an opportunity for their children like this, even though it would be seasonal, would be appealing.”
The park committee examined close to half a dozen locations for the site, and in the end they settled on the Mariners Centre.
However, the owners of the facility – the Municipality of Yarmouth and the Town of Yarmouth – need more information before they commit to the establishment of the installation.
A minimum space of 206 square metres would be required for the attraction, in addition to the construction of a building to house operational equipment and changing rooms.
The cost is estimated at $350,000 for the entire project. The splash park committee will be seeking funding from provincial and federal levels of government, in addition to the three municipal units in Yarmouth County.
After some discussion, Yarmouth municipal CAO Victoria Brooks suggested she work with Argyle and Town of Yarmouth CAOs to develop a collaborative staff report on the initiative, so that the municipalities would
CARLA ALLEN
understand the implications.
“Frank (Grant, the director of Yarmouth Recreation) and I haven’t had a conversation on the impact on the recreation department,” Brooks said. “I don’t know from our lawyer how we divide the line between the Mariners Centre operations and splash park operations in terms of who buys what and liability insurance.”
A presentation by the splash park committee will also soon be made at a Yarmouth town council committee of the whole meeting.
Artist’s conception of splash park.