City pursuing grant funding for fully accessible playground

Swift Current City Council approved a motion to pursue federal grant funding in order to construct an inclusive accessibility park on Swift Current’s Southside.

At a Special Council Meeting called on July 5, council unanimously approved a motion calling on city administration to pursue funding through the Canada Community Grant Revitalization Fund to build the new playground. The City is applying for the full $750,000 grant total, which would require the expenditure of $187,500 for the city’s share of the 75/25 cost share formula.

“It’s been on our radar for some time. We’ve actually looked at it since our budget deliberations last year,” explained Jim Jones, General Manager of Community Services.

“We were looking at a playground that could be stand alone as opposed to trying to retrofit another playground to it. We already have ACT. We see it as a potential for a destination park that people would come to,” he said of the proposed playground.

The park is planned for the site of the former Palliser Care Centre, and city engineers are currently completing a conceptual design of a park which would include design features similar to the John Dolan Inclusive Playground in Saskatoon.

Councillor Ryan Plewis, who has been a strong advocate for an inclusive accessibility park, was pleased to see council’s support of the proposal at the meeting earlier this month.

“I believe that this is an important issue that we lead on. I don’t like the fact that we don’t currently have a truly accessible and barrier free park,” Plewis said at the July 5 meeting.

“It really is something that we need in our community. And that we should be proud of even just making the application to get this done because to me it shows leadership.”

Swift Current CAO Tim Marcus noted that the final design of the park will be more than just a playground structure.

“The park would include more than just the play structure, it also includes the washrooms and the parking lot and everything else that would be necessary as part of that development,” Marcus explained.

Council also discussed where the funds would come to pay for the project, with most agreeing the community would rally around the new community amenity.

“There’s a spot in a lot of people’s hearts, and lots of business’s hearts for something like this. So we really don’t think we’re going to have to take on any debt for this particular park,” Mayor Al Bridal said.