{"id":31284,"date":"2022-05-12T18:49:11","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T22:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=31284"},"modified":"2022-05-12T19:12:34","modified_gmt":"2022-05-12T23:12:34","slug":"community-park-plan-for-hartwell-way-hit-by-rising-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/community-park-plan-for-hartwell-way-hit-by-rising-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"Community park plan for Hartwell Way hit by rising costs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Plans for a more natural-style community park on Hartwell Way have been hit by rising costs, leaving some Councillors wondering if some features can be left off the final list to save money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council, sitting at the Committee level last week, gave the tentative green light to a budget increase of $923,500 to make the park a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should this budget increase be approved, the park \u2013 which will include several unique features, including a natural playground, dedicated space for community gardens, as well as a band shell \u2013 would have a price tag of $2,423,500 funded from reserves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawmakers expressed dismay that initial cost estimates were so far off the mark, but when pressed over potential features they might strike off the list to bring the price down, nothing rose to the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe thought we had enough when we went out to tender,\u201d said Al Downey, Aurora\u2019s Director of Operations. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t have called the tender if we thought we were going to be that far off the mark.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the key amenities that was driving the cost increase, he said, was the move away from a traditional playground towards more natural structures made out of black walnut, which could prove more durable in the long-run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt did come as a bit of a surprise for us that costs had come in so high but, at the same time this is coming, we were trying to address not only the needs of the community but the needs of Council as well,\u201d Mr. Downey continued, referencing many of the park features previously approved by Council to make this one unique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor John Gallo was the first at the table to float the idea of looking at the individual components of the park in order to bring it back in line with the budget. While he said he was a proponent of the park, and costs tend to rise over time, the question was, \u201cDo we bite the bullet and just do it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo we do this? Do we pause? Do we re-scope it in order to be a bit more budget-sensitive?\u201d he asked, before further suggesting going back to the plan and seeing what can be constructed in phases in the hopes of finding a cost-savings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Michael Thompson agreed that costs tend to go up over time but noted that he\u2019s seeing prices rising \u201cacross the board\u201d already on many projects like these.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere might be some savings in delaying this project, but\u2026nobody has a crystal ball and you can\u2019t say that with any degree of certainty,\u201d said Councillor Thompson, before asking staff when a decision would need to be made in order to break ground on the park this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVery soon,\u201d was the answer that came from Mr. Downey, with June being the ideal time to get things started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Mrakas agreed that if there is a delay costs would likely continue to rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think any of us are happy with the price increase, but we have seen the inflation, we have seen what\u2019s been going on\u2026we have seen prices going up, we have seen labour shortages\u2026we have seen prices skyrocketing. If we don\u2019t lock it in, if we don\u2019t think it\u2019s the right thing to do, we shouldn\u2019t do it. If we think it is going to benefit the community to have this park there, as much as I think we all hate the fact the price is increased, if we delay it, it is just going to be more. How does that benefit the community?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Council opts to \u201cre-scale\u201d the Hartwell Way park plan in order to be more budget-conscious, how they might do so might prove to be a contentious issue. Between the band shell, the community gardens and the natural playground, each feature had their supporters around the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think a band shell is something we have always wanted there,\u201d said Councillor Rachel Gilliland. \u201cI don\u2019t know how much scaling back we can do on that. Community gardens, if anything, I believe that with the rising food costs the community gardens is a really big want. I really think it does serve a real great need in the community in order to participate in a spot to grow their own vegetables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am trying to understand where we would scale back aside from the actual playground. If it all comes down to scaling back to $340,000 \u2013 do you want the natural playground or do you not? There are so many different things we can speak to as to why we would want one playground over the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs it worth it? I feel this community has waited a long time for a park there and I think we need to make up our mind. As the old saying goes, [blank] or get off the pot. Hopefully between now and Council we will get some more clarity on it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was sticker \u201cshock\u201d for Councillor Sandra Humfryes as well, but what was locked in place has been a long time coming, she argued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe community garden is a huge aspect of what I think neighbourhoods would really like to see in a designated area like this,\u201d she said, adding she was heartened that the money would be coming out of reserves that were in the black.  \u201cIt is such an exciting plan I don\u2019t want to see scale-back here. I think we have to do what we need to do for optimal living for our residents. They deserve it. It has been a long time coming and if I saw\u2026we would be hurting in the reserves, if I saw any indication [we needed somewhere else] to get money to pay for this\u2026 but the reserve balance is projected to be healthy for the next 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council opted to move forward at this point in time, leaving the door open to further consideration by the time the decision comes up for final approval on May 24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPick and choose what we think will be the best park outcome,\u201d said Councillor Harold Kim. \u201cWe have a couple of weeks for Council to have second thoughts then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plans for a more natural-style community park on Hartwell Way have been hit by rising costs, leaving some Councillors wondering if some features can be left off the final list to save money. Council, sitting at the Committee level last week, gave the tentative green light to a budget increase of $923,500 to make the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-88A","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-14 12:55:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}