HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil - 2012-06-11 - River Ridge Community PlaygroundDate:June 5, 2012
To:Members of Council
From:
Mark Hildebrand, Director, Community Programs and Services, 741-2687
cc:
Deb Campbell, Manager, Community Resource Centres, 741 – 3400 ext 3382
Fabienne Prior, District Facilitator, 741-2755
Subject:River Ridge Community Park Development Project – Background Information
At the June 11th Council meeting, a delegation from the River Ridge Community Park
Development Project will be appearing to provide a good news story on their collaborative
efforts with the City of Kitchener to build a playground enhancement to the their neighbourhood
park. This memo is provided as background information for this presentation from the group.
This initiative began when Tracey Weiler, a resident of the River Ridge Community (part of
Bridgeport North), connected with City of Kitchener staff to begin exploration on how to increase
the amount of swings within their local neighbourhood park.
The main park within the River Ridge community is located in the centre of the neighbourhood
and is designed to be the primary public gathering space. It is a large parcel of land surrounded
by single family homes and the street that is the primary roadway through the neighbourhood. It
is also the parcel of land that includes designated space for a future public school.
The park space was initially developed with a play structure, which in part contained two swings.
However, given the rapid growth and demographics of the neighbourhood, residents felt that the
amount of swings were not sufficient. The City of Kitchener did not have available funds to
enhance the playground therefore the community began to mobilize and raise funds for the
project.
As a first step, a community meeting was put together and interested community residents
came and discussed their ideas for the playground and the neighbourhood as a whole. City of
Kitchener staff and the local councillor, Scott Davey was in attendance.
From that meeting, a core group of committed residents formed the committee and started
meeting on a regular basis to determine what the playground enhancement would look like and
the steps needed to make it a reality.
The design for the playground enhancement included the addition of 4 swings and a saucer
swing. Part of the design also included providing some seating, the planting of trees and
recognition of donors to the project.
An initial quote was asked for to determine the budget for the project. This provided a basis to
move forward and begin fundraising. For several months, the group was heavily engaged in a
fundraising plan which included approaching funders, businesses, service clubs, and residents
to contribute to the project. The group was successful in obtaining funding from a variety of
sources including; a grant from the KW Community Foundation, the City of Kitchener’s
Community Environmental Improvement Grant (CEIG), a large donation from a developer,
support from local businesses and service clubs and donations from private residents. In
addition, the group held a garage sale which also raised money for the playground.
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The committee has also put together a detailed sponsorship recognition plan that outlines the
type of recognition donors receive based on the amount of the donation made. This includes
everything from receiving a thank you card to recognition at a sign located at the park.
Throughout this process the City of Kitchener has acted as a fiscal agent for this project and this
has enabled the group to provide charitable tax receipts for all the donors.
Throughout this initiative, there has been a significant level of community engagement not only
informing neighbours of the playground enhancement, but organizing and implementing a
variety of community events aimed to bring awareness to the project, build community and
provide an avenue for people to donate.
Various City of Kitchener staff has provided support for this initiative from the beginning. One
staff has worked alongside the group providing information, consultation and has acted as a
conduit for other city staff and services. Staff from Operations and Supply Services has also
been heavily involved in the project providing support. With the completion of the playground,
the maintenance and upkeep of the site will be the responsibility of the City of Kitchener.
As of the first week of June, the swings and the saucer swing have been installed. The group is
organizing a celebration event at the park at the end of June to showcase the new apparatus, to
thank donors and to bring the community together.
Work continues on a couple of other aspects of the project including the installation of some
trees and the bench seating as well as the recognition piece for significant donors to the project.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Fabienne Prior, Deb Campbell or
myself.
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