News release - Town of Midland
Midland is thrilled to announce that three new accessible and inclusive playgrounds at Little Lake Park, Pete Pettersen Park and Bayview Park have been completed and are now being enjoyed by residents and visitors.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate all three parks will take place at the Little Lake Park playground on Tuesday, August 23rd at 10:00 a.m.
“It’s great to see children and families enjoying these new, safe, and accessible playgrounds once again at our beautiful parks this summer,” said Mayor Stewart Strathearn. “This project has been in the works since 2021 starting with valued community input and we are excited to see the final products based on the tremendous feedback received.
"We are also grateful to the Government of Canada for making these important community improvement projects available through the Canada Community-Building Fund.”
After a third-party inspection of Midland’s playgrounds in 2020 revealed a number of the playgrounds did not meet CSA safety standards, the Operations team began repairs to many of the playgrounds, with some being removed entirely.
Though this was disheartening to residents at the time, the Town began a public engagement program in early 2021 to obtain community feedback on features residents hoped to see in the new future playgrounds.
Installation of these and three additional playgrounds coming this fall and into 2023 were made possible through Infrastructure Canada’s Community-Building Fund, previously called the Gas Tax Fund.
“Playgrounds are where children learn new skills, meet others and have fun,” said Adam Chambers, MP Simcoe North. “My children have already made great use of these new facilities and it is wonderful to see these parks busy again.
"I am thankful for the support of the Canada Community-Building Fund and the partnership with the Town of Midland to make this project a reality.”
After some unexpected supply chain delays, construction of the playgrounds kicked off with Pete Pettersen Park, which was ready in early May, with Little Lake Park completed and ready by August 5th and ending with Bayview Park not far behind and ready for fun on August 16th.
“We’re very pleased with how the playgrounds came together,” said Dylan Flannery, Director of Operations. “Each playground is unique in its own way, but are all equipped with similar safety, accessibility and inclusivity features such as woodchip fibre top safety surface, accessible ramps, a variety of challenging climbing apparatuses, slides, swings, and accessible swings.”
New playgrounds at Mac McAllen, Edgehill and Tiffin parks are slated for installation this fall, however with ongoing supply chain concerns a schedule is to be confirmed and the community will be updated at that time.
The playground ribbon-cutting ceremony on August 23rd at 10:00 a.m., at Little Lake Park will proceed rain or shine apart from severe thunderstorm conditions.
Images via Town of Midland
