$3-MILLION PROPOSAL
Holiday decor for city park
The City of Windsor is considering spending $3 million to create a sparkling Christmas wonderland at Jackson Park.
City CAO Onorio Colucci said Jackson Park is the suggested location for the “signature” holiday lights display because it is centrally positioned and has lots of trees.
“If you’re going to hang lights you need trees, unless you’re going to spend more money with building structures to hang lights from,” he said. “This was seen as a central, highly visible area where it’s both an asset for citizens with easy access on major arterial roads as well as the main entry point toward downtown for people coming from out of town.”
City council will review a staff report outlining ideas for the park on Monday night.
The suggestions from administration grew from a request by Mayor Drew Dilkens to determine the cost of creating a showcase to cap off the Windsor 125 and Canada 150 celebrations.
The possibilities touted for Jackson Park include wrapping hundreds of trees with lights on a circuit around the paved pathway. Staff said plans could also include placing an 18-metre tree with lights in the sunken gardens and surround it with huge presents and decorations. The staff report also suggests a large display at the park entrance near Tecumseh Road with a “giant” reindeer and Santa sleigh.
Another possibility is adorning the trellis structure east of the garden with a 3.6-metre wreath over the entrance, and covering the pillars and overhead structure with lights.
“As you enter the sunken garden moving west you could walk through a series of light tunnels and the entire space filled with lights and displays along the sides and interior beds,” staff wrote in the report.
But the lighting spectacle is just the beginning of what the city envisions.
“In addition to an elaborate display of holiday lights, planned events such as horse and carriage rides around the park, arts and crafts, hot apple cider and hot chocolate booths, food vendors and fun for the whole family could be considered,” the report states.
To pull it all off, city administration suggests hiring a team of professionals with experience in holiday lighting events and displays to plan and execute the project.
To pay for the massive project, city staff suggests using an anticipated $1-million surplus from an Enwin special dividend, $400,000 from the Windsor World Junior Hockey placeholder and an anticipated $500,000 surplus from 2017 OLG funding.
Another $1.1 million would come from the 2014 enhanced capital placeholder funding for a new city hall parking garage.
After the initial design and material costs are out of the way in the first year, staff estimates it would cost $300,000 annually to put up the display.
Those ongoing costs would include $170,000 to set it up and take it down, $120,000 for security, $2,500 for utilities and $5,000 for programming.
City staff suggested finding sponsors or partnering with BIAs to help offset the high costs.
“The intent is certainly to seek as many sponsorship opportunities as possible,” said Colucci.
In addition to Jackson Park, the report suggests that the city continue additional holiday lighting displays at Dieppe Park, Charles Clark Square, the WFCU Centre roundabout, Mackenzie Hall, Gino and Liz Marcus Recreation Complex, Willistead Manor and the city gateways at Howard and Dougall avenues.
But it also suggests requiring Business Improvement Areas to pony up money for lighting displays within their boundaries instead of relying solely on the city, which has been the practice in the past. “I think what we’re saying essentially is when those displays are largely in a particular area within BIAs that this seems to be an obvious connection that there should be some sponsorship, some cost sharing,” said Colucci.