Youngsters may think it’s Christmas in July when they step onto the Robert Street playground in a couple of weeks.
The Town of Turner Valley is relocating playground equipment previously situated behind the Dr. Lander Memorial Swimming Pool to a playground on Robert Street in response to several requests from area residents to add to the park. The Town budgeted $30,000 from its reserve funds for the relocation.
Barry Williamson, the Town’s chief administrative officer, said the equipment has been inspected and cleaned up since it was removed from its previous site more than a year ago and will be cemented in with pea gravel added in a couple of weeks.
“We are adding pieces that would complement the existing assembly,” he said. “It will be a much more expanded playground offering.”
The addition is something mom of three Karen Sinclair has been hoping to see for years.
“It’s a great start to have that playground equipment utilized for another purpose in the town,” she said. “Hopefully this area will benefit from that for all of these young families that live here. It’s wonderful to meet with other families that we otherwise wouldn’t have seen and for our kids to meet other kids in the neighbourhood and just gather and play and enjoy their time together.”
Sinclair wrote a letter to the Town on behalf of more than 25 families in the area in April asking it to expand the playground.
“I just felt knowing the playground equipment from behind the spray park was potentially available to be moved elsewhere in the town the Town needed to understand there was support from a number of families in the area that I have spoken with personally to move that playground equipment into the Robert Street playground since it has extra green space that would have benefited from that enhancement,” she said.
Since moving to Turner Valley nine years ago, Sinclair has noticed more young families moving to her neighbourhood.
With her three children getting older, the existing equipment no longer meets their needs, she said.
“The playground equipment says it’s good for ages two to five,” she said, explaining there is only a small structure with two small slides and a small swing set.
“We’ve used it on and off when our kids were babies and toddlers.”
Her family uses the park for tobogganing, kicking the ball around and flying kites, but Sinclair said they spend more time at parks in Black Diamond and Okotoks.
She said it’s a shame, considering the park is just around the corner from their home.
“We are not there very often,” she said. “That’s why I wrote the letter because I felt there could be so much more done with the park. It’s beneficial to have a much larger climbing structure, bigger slides, more interesting things for school-aged children.”
Sinclair joined the Town’s new Paths, Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee when it was formed a couple months ago to have a voice regarding enhancing parks, pathways and recreational amenities.
Turner Valley Mayor Kelly Tuck said she’s been receiving letters from residents asking that the park be improved for a couple of years.
“They were saying the park for that area just was more for little, little kids and not older kids,” she said. “Fair enough. I get it. I have grandchildren, too, and they don’t go to the park. There is nothing there for them.”
The playground equipment removed from behind the pool to install the spray park last year included a merry-go-round, slide and climbing structure.
Tuck said Robert Street Playground is the perfect location for the equipment.
“It’s big enough to accommodate way more equipment than it actually utilizes,” she said.
Tuck said the community has four parks and that staff has been tasked to draft reports on what needs to be done at the parks in the future including adding trees, benches and garbage cans.
The Town is budgeting $30,000 annually towards its parks to come from reserves or grants.
