A proposed concept plan shows what the park could look like. (Submitted/Rotary Club of Prince Albert)

By Alison Sandstrom

New attraction

Adventure park proposed at Little Red

Dec 1, 2020 | 8:23 AM

The Rotary Club of Prince Albert is proposing a major addition at Little Red River Park to mark their 100th anniversary as a service club.

President Keith Fonstad presented the club’s vision for a new attraction, called the Rotary Adventure Park, at Monday night’s city council executive meeting. The facility would replace an aged play structure that was removed from the park in 2019 and feature elements targeted at kids aged eight to 14. Proposed features include elevated slides, a climbing center, a zip line or gravity rail, and a parkour-style circuit.

“Think of American Ninja Warrior,” said Fonstad, speaking about the parkour-style circuit. “Those types of things where you’re running, jumping, going fast and using skill sets that currently wouldn’t be acceptable to use in some of the smaller playgrounds in the city.”

A proposed concept plan shows potential elements the Adventure Park could include. (Submitted/Rotary Club of Prince Albert)

Additional picnic sites, swings, new bathrooms and paved walking trails are also included in phase one of the plan, which the Rotary Club estimates will cost between $750,000 to $800,000. Up to 65 per cent of that cost would be funded by the club, said Fonstad. The City would be responsible for the rest.

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Phase two of the project could potentially see the reconstruction of the sliding hill on the east side of the river, as well as an expanded parking lot and more new picnic sites. A landscape architect hired by the Rotary Club to create a concept plan for the project estimated the cost of both phases at between $1.4 million and $1.7 million.

The Rotary Club’s proposal for the adventure park is contingent on the City completing the installation of the bridge at the north-west end of the sliding hill parking lot, which was washed-out in 2013.

Prince Albert is waiting to receive word from the federal government on whether they’ve received funding for that bridge, Director of Public Works, Wes Hicks explained during the meeting. A decision is expected by the end of the year and the bridge is 100 per cent designed and ready for tender, he continued.

President of the Rotary Club of Prince Albert, Keith Fonstad, speaks to council. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

Speaking to paNOW after the meeting, Fonstad said, assuming the city moves ahead with the bridge, construction of phase one of the adventure park could potentially begin next fall, with the new facility opening in the summer of 2022.

Councillors were enthusiastic about the proposal and voted to forward the Rotary Club’s correspondence to budget committee meetings in January .

Coun. Blake Edwards said he particularly liked that the park would cater to youth aged eight to 14.

“I think we’re lacking activities for that aged group to do,” he told the meeting. “This is going to put a lot of smiles on a lot of kids faces in our city.”

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom