Innisfil better get ready to play.
Construction started over the last few weeks on three separate park facilities within town, all of which will be ready to open this fall. Two parks — Grainger Loop and McNeil Street — are located in Alcona, while Mumberson Street is in Cookstown.
Each project is located within new subdivisions and therefore paid for by developers. In total, the three parks cost about $700,000 to build, said Meredith Goodwin, the town's capital project manager.
“It was a challenge because we’ve got three different designs,” she said. “I’m working with three different landscape architects, but it’s all one contractor. We’re going on the timing of how the developments are ready for them. We like to wait until the development is more substantial; we try to get the timing so the houses are built around it.”
So what can residents look forward to?
Well, Grainer Loop is at 2192 Lozenby St., near the 20th Sideroad and Benson Street intersection. Once complete, it’ll include a pirate ship-themed playground where kids can immerse themselves in imaginative scenarios, pretending to be on the high seas and searching for treasure, or engaging in epic battles.
“Someone said to me: ‘Meredith, we need a pirate ship, they play so much longer’,” Goodwin said. “That’s what’s coming. It’s really cool. It’s our first playground like that. We’re excited about that one.”
McNeil (the official address is 2014 McNeil St.) is situated west of the Webster Boulvard and Lawson Street intersection. This small park will include a concrete walkway, benches, plantings and storyboards, offering a quiet space to relax and read, or kick a ball around.
“We’re looking at putting up those stories that can change (and to) work with the library on that,” Goodwin said.
Meanwhile, Mumberson (at 36 Mumberson St., to be exact), will connect to the Trans Canada Trail and includes a unique playground featuring a junior area with 16 interactive activities for children ages two to five, and a senior playground for kids four to 12 that has a climbing structure, double slides and interactive panels.
There will also be a swing set with an accessible bucket swing, bucket swing for little kiddos, and a belt swing.
The playgrounds incorporate an Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act-approved engineered wood fibre. Ensuring these sites are usable for everyone is an important element of the design process, Goodwin said.
“It’s not just wheelchair accessibility, it’s accessibility in regards to people with cognitive issues and blind children,” she said. “Imaginative play really creates this good way for them to learn. That’s huge for their development. We’re trying to really spread it out so we have different things throughout Innisfil as a whole.”
Goodwin says she enjoys going to finished parks and seeing the joy on children's faces.
To see the playground designs, or for more information on what’s planned, visit innisfil.ca.
