Among the new playground's features are a mini rock climbing wall, an accessible swing and a web climber. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Recreation upgrade

New West Flat playground now open

Sep 23, 2020 | 5:44 PM

It’s been quite the summer for Lions Park. On Wednesday, a second major recreation upgrade was unveiled at the West Flat green space. A new $111,500 playground now sits beside the state-of-art splash zone opened in July.

Park manager with the City of Prince Albert, Tim Yeaman told paNOW the upgrades at the neighborhood park were “a long time coming” considering the state of the previous play equipment.

“We had just a very small structure that was basically insignificant,” he said. “To have this now, and have the opportunity for kids to have multiple play areas within the park is really exciting.”

The new playground replaced this small structure installed in 2008. (Council Agenda/City of P.A.)

Ward councillor, Charlene Miller, also in attendance for the opening, expressed similar sentiments about Lions Park’s transformation.

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“For the community and the kids and families, it’s a lot,” Miller said. “We’re very grateful city council said yes to the improvements and Malcolm Jenkins [of Canadian Tire] for donating some funds as well. It was an upgrade that needed to be done really badly.”

Lions Park was one of four playgrounds identified as priorities for immediate replacement by a 2019 inventory of Prince Albert playgrounds.

Work at the West Flat location, however, isn’t quite complete. There are also plans to install lighting and cameras to provide a 360-degree view of the park.

Currently, the $1.75 million play park at the Alfred Jenkins Field house is the only playground in the city monitored by video surveillance, but Yeaman said cameras will be included in the plans for all city playgrounds going forward.

“They’ll just allow us to keep a better view of what’s taking place in the park,” he said. “And if there were ever any incidents, we have the ability to go back and look at those cameras… I think parents will appreciate that extra step that we’re taking just to ensure that they feel safe.”

(Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom