Playground equipment move raises issues in both areas
Residents near Kinsmen Park unhappy about loss of facilities
Some Caswell Hill residents say they would be disappointed if a planned relocation of a playground to their neighbourhood doesn’t happen.
Rachel Engler-Stringer said many parts of the west side of the city are underserved, a situation that won’t be improved if city council reverses its decision to decommission and relocate the play equipment from Kinsmen Park to Ashworth Holmes Park in Caswell Hill — as a petition urges the city to do.
“I think that’s totally unacceptable,” she said, adding that while she’s able to travel to different neighbourhoods outside of her immediate area, that’s not the case for other families in Caswell Hill and the surrounding neighbourhoods.
“An upgraded playground at Ashworth Holmes would not just be about Caswell Hill; it would be about several neighbourhoods,” she said.
“It would be Mayfair and Westmount and a number of other neighbourhoods that are adjacent to ours getting amenities that really are desperately needed.”
Earlier this week, a petition was presented to the city calling for the reopening of the Kinsmen Play Village, next to Saskatoon City Hospital, which is set for relocation after the opening of PotashCorp Playland.
The petition, which had more than 1,200 signatures by Friday, will be discussed at a planning, development and community services committee meeting on Monday.
Justin McGowan, president of the Caswell Hill Community Association, said he’s willing to work with Saskatoon residents who want to reopen the playground at Kinsmen Park to find a solution that will work for both parties.
“If it causes delays or causes the project to not happen, of course that will be disappointing,” he said, as the current equipment in the Ashworth Holmes Park is “long-overdue for replacement,” and considered unsafe by some in the community.
Robin Hansen, a Nutana parent who started the petition, said she agrees Caswell Hill needs a new playground, but said it shouldn’t result in the loss of the play village at Kinsmen Park.
The Kinsmen Park Master Plan was approved by council in 2011 after community consultations began in 2007.
PotashCorp Playland opened in 2015, and the city has already awarded the contracts for the dismantling of the playground and its
An upgraded playground at Ashworth Holmes would not just be about Caswell Hill; it would be about several neighbourhoods.
reinstallation at Caswell Hill.
Hansen said the old playground and new playland serve different purposes. “They’re very different,” she said. “If you take away the original one, then Kinsmen Park is not going to serve young children or children with mobility issues.”
Ward 1 Coun. Darren Hill said that he’ll be asking administration and lawyers within the city’s procurement department to examine the possibility of linking the installation of the new Ashworth Holmes Park playground to the existing decommission contract to offset any potential costs involved in postponing the decommission.
“I don’t think we would be in this situation had we done a better job of community consultation as a city maybe about five years ago when we were discussing that play structure moving over to Ashworth Holmes Park,” he said.