City staff will be requesting that council approve the closure of ten playground sites as part of the Playground Revitalization Plan during the April 12th, 2017

On September 20th, 2016 the Finance and Administration Committee received a presentation of the state of the playgrounds within Greater Sudbury. In that presentation, 58 of the 189 playground sties were identified as requiring replacement with the next five years at an estimated averaged cost of $40,000 per site to bring the “poor” playgrounds to the “good” category with a preliminary estimate of $2,320,000 for the 58 playgrounds.

Of the remaining sites, 45 playgrounds were ranked as being in satisfactory, meaning some improvements were needed, with full replacement in the next ten years and 86 were in good condition meaning they were replaced within the last 8 years.

Following the September 20th, 2016 the Geographical Information System (GIS) section of the city was directed to map all the playgrounds sites within the City and through these mapping exercises 10 sites were identified as redundant based of a 400m buffer identified within the Parks and Open Spaces Master Plan. The reduction of these playground sites would reduce the number of sites requiring total replacement from 58 to 48 and result in a saving of $1,920,000(based on the $40,000 per site figure).

If council approves the closure of the redundant playgrounds based on the Playground and Open Spaces Master Plan, it is being recommended the City moves forward with disposal of these surplus spaces based on the Parkland Disposal Policy.

Playgrounds slated for closure include:

Ward 1 - Participaction tot Lot - Byng Tot Lot is within 400m

Ward 1 - Queen’s Athletic Field - Marguerite & Gerry Lougheed Park is within 400m

Ward 3 - Pine & Fir Tot Lot / Gil Loop Tot Lot - Pine & Fir Tot Lot / Gil Loop Tot Lot / Onaping Community Centre is within 400m

Ward 4 - Shawn Tot Lot - Rick McDonald Complex / Spruce Meadows Tot Lot is within 400m

Ward 5 - MacMillan Tot Lot - Rose Court Tot Lot within 400m

Ward 5 - Pinecrest Tot Lot - Carol Richard Playground within 400m

Ward 7 - Ravine Park / Lion’s Park - Lion’s Park / Ravine Park within 400m

Ward 8 - Paquette Tot Lot - Valleystream Playground / Lansing Playground within 400m

Ward 8 - Rose Marie Playground / Place Hurtubise Playground - Rose Marie Playground / Place Hurtubise Playground / Twin Forks within  400m

Ward 8 - Summerhill Park - Porter Park within 400m