While the concept of a splash park has been kicked around for the last number of years, there has been little forward momentum.
Until now, that is, as the District is actively investigating what the cost of building a splash park would be.
The District has allotted $500,000 of its own budget towards the project, hoping that it can get matching funding in the form of a grant.
Of course, this does not mean that there will be a splash park built in Tumbler Ridge. This is, in fact, the third time the idea has come before council.
The first time this was investigated was in 2006, but nothing came from that proposal.
It was also investigated in 2015, when the idea was to build a splash park at the Lions Campground by Flatbed.
The current preferred location is between the Community Centre and the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.
According to a report before Council from Director of Community Services Denis Bento, “splash parks are great for aquatic activities without the high costs associated with the pools.”
So on May 15, the Public Works Department met with the Community Services Department to discuss access to electricity, water, and drainage for Splash Park. “In terms of water accessibility,” says the report, “Public Works Department has confirmed that the Outdoor Volleyball Court area has the capability to have a Splash Park.”
The proposed splash park would mean the outdoor volleyball nets would need to be moved to a new location. “The first step was to hear from the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School,” writes Bento. “My team has reached the School to check if it would impact the students. We have received a letter from the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School that the School utilizes the indoor gymnasium for volleyball practice instead of the outdoor volleyball court and supports moving the outdoor net to a new location.”
The current plan, says Bento, is to move the outdoor volleyball net to Chamberlain Park. “Currently the Lion’s Campground also houses a second outdoor volleyball location for public use.”
The other user group in the area is the YMCA Daycare. According to Bento, the daycare “fully supports having a Splash Park at the Outdoor Volleyball Court. ‘Having a Splash Park in our community would greatly benefit all our 57 families that attend our YMCA BC programs. Having access to a Splash Park in our community would help to build the children’s self-esteem and ability to feel safe around water and provide another outlet within our own community to have a safe space to play and explore with water.’”
He says this is the preferred spot for a number of reason, including: easy access (downtown location), lots of parking, far from main streets/roads, close to the Community Centre, close to the skate park, proximate for daycare kids to use, close to food service and is big enough for a mid-sized splash park. And, as the area has not been previously developed, it will be easy to build.
“Regarding the disposable of Splash Park water, there are two options available,” writes Bento “The first option is to recycle the water with a recycle water system (retain and reuse system). Dawson Creek utilizes this system as they do not have a large water reservoir but due to staff demands and cost, they would have chosen the flow-through system if they had the chance to do it again. The other option is to dispose of the water. Chetwynd uses this system (flow-through system) which is less expensive to maintain. At this point, this is just for information; once we receive more information, we will present Council with the options so Council can make an informed decision.”
A Splash Park project has been approved under the 2023 Capital & Special Projects, writes Bento. “Although the project has been budgeted, we will look into grants/funding opportunities,” he writes.
And that, says Mayor Krakowka, is the problem. He says the direction from council was to wait until funding was secured before moving forward with the project. He moves to defer any further work on the project until funding is secured.
Councillor Norbury says he thinks it’s a good idea to continue to study the process. “That way, we have a plan in place so that if we get a grant, we can start right away, rather than start the process later down the line.”
“In the report it talks about how we did studies and reports and drawings in 2006 and 2015,” says Mayor Krakowka. “We have two sets of these already. If we move ahead, we will have a third set on the shelf. It’s not that I don’t support the concept. I am all in favour of having something here for our children, our youth and family. But previous councils have already spent money on this. I would like to defer this until we have clarity on the grant.”
In the end, Council voted to defer any further work on the project until a grant is secured.
Once funding is lined up, the timeline for the splash park project would be about 6–12 months to plan and install.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
