A new playground is coming to Co-An Park in McGregor.
The park, co-managed and funded by the Town of Amherstburg and Town of Essex, will see a larger and upgraded playground installed later this year.
Essex town council approved an amount of $389,791 for the new playground, including non-refundable tax, with 50 per cent of that funded by Amherstburg.
The playground will be designed and installed by New World Park Solutions Inc.
“The proposals received were evaluated using a scorecard approach, taking into consideration the experience with similar projects, understanding of the proposal scope and quality of the proposal, design, age appropriateness features, accessible features, equipment warranties and public opinion, based on a fixed budget of up to $390,000, including non-refundable taxes,” stated a report from Jake Morassut, director of community services with Essex.
Morassut said Amherstburg agreed Essex would oversee the Request for Proposals (RFP) process and provided a pair of staff members for the evaluation committee.
Amherstburg also participated in the RFP development.
An administrative review team from both towns helped look over the proposal, with two of the five people being from Amherstburg.
The Amherstburg representatives were manager of parks and naturalized areas Annette Zahaluk and technical support project manager Stephen Hayes. Essex representatives were Morrassut, assistant manager of finance and business services Jackson Tang and manager of parks and facilities Rodney Klie.
Essex oversaw a two-week virtual vote in February where 859 online votes were cast to choose which playground design the public preferred.
The playground replacement comes as part of the Co-An Park Master Plan, which was developed by both municipalities.
The aim is to get the playground installed and in use this summer.
Amherstburg co-funding $400,000 worth of playground upgrades at Co-An Park
By Ron Giofu
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