By Alexandra Brothers
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
September 1, 2023 Edition
While the new state-of-the-art accessible playground at St. David’s Park has been a family favourite all summer, the washrooms that were supposed to accompany it remain closed.
The City of Mount Pearl first unveiled its plans for the upgrades to the park in August 2021. Those plans included the construction of a fully accessible playground on a rubberized surface, improved lighting and smart technology, and two new gender-neutral accessible washrooms.
The total cost projected for the work in 2021 was $963,695. Infrastructure Canada and the provincial government each provided some $151,000 in funding, leaving the remainder, roughly $661,000, for the City of Mount Pearl to cover.
The playground was supposed to open to the public last summer, but this did not happen. Before it could open, several changes had to be made to the plans.
The City approved change orders for additional playground features including a green belt connection between St. David’s Park and the playground, an adult change table, and three independent ground-based activity panels as well as adjustments to the proposed playground equipment to make it more accessible and to the position of the storm sewer and catch basin to accommodate the new playground. The additional costs for these changes totaled roughly $61,800.
At a council meeting last week, another cost was added to this list. It concerns the still-incomplete washroom facilities. The scheduled completion date for the last phase of the accessible park upgrades, which was originally set for July 15, had to be pushed back several times. The reason for this delay involves the installation of automatic doors for the facility.
The planning, engineering and development (PED) committee informed council last week that the contractor for the accessible washroom project, Modern Paving Ltd., has requested an additional change order. The charge order concerns the supply and installation of two electric strikes to enable full operation of the previously supplied and installed electric door control devices on the door frames on the new washroom building. The devices are required for the City’s online door control system to control access to the doors.
The cost for the electric strikes is $1,552, HST included, however, the committee proposed that a credit of $850, HST included, be applied to the project for paint which is not required for the mechanical room. The total change to the project cost will therefore be $702.
The committee’s motion to approve the change order with the proposed credit carried unanimously. The date for the opening of the accessible washrooms is still yet to be determined.
