Nearly $400k playground coming to Co-An Park in McGregor

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. 

That report appeared on last Wednesday night’s Amherstburg parks and recreation advisory committee meeting. Heidi Baillargeon, Amherstburg’s director of parks, facilities and recreation, told the committee it was a joint project between the two towns and the designs went to a public vote. 

Baillargeon said construction activity is about three to four weeks away at the park.

“They are going to prep the base out there. The equipment itself won’t be in for another eight weeks. We’re hoping by summer there will be equipment out at Co-An Park,” said Baillargeon.

Amherstburg agreed Essex would oversee the Request for Proposals (RFP) process with Amherstburg’s input and provided a pair of staff members for the evaluation committee. 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. Tony Pietrangelo, a member of Amherstburg’s parks and recreation committee, said he wanted to make sure Amherstburg ratepayers are “getting fair value for their buck.” He wanted to know how many people from Amherstburg voted, and was told last week there was no breakdown available at the meeting regarding the 859 total votes as to how many came from Amherstburg and how many from Essex. A further breakdown will come at a future committee meeting.

The playground replacement comes as part of the Co-An Park Master Plan, which was developed by both municipalities. 

Councillor Molly Allaire asked about the location, and Baillargeon said last week at the committee meeting that the playground will be located in the same vicinity. Baillargeon said it will be moved slightly north to steer clear of underground infrastructure including septic systems and underground wiring and drainage.

Nearly $400k playground coming to Co-An Park in McGregor

By Ron Giofu