Richard Froese
South Peace News
Big Lakes County has given the nod to the Town of High Prairie to construct a splash pad with some financial support from council.
At its regular meeting Feb. 12, council approved a motion to support construction of the splash park with equipment supplied by PlayQuest Recreation.
Council approved a second motion that Big Lakes contribute $136,000 to be paid from the 2025 annual capital allocation under the Inter-municipal Capital Funding agreement for infrastructure within the town.
In 2023, the Buchanan Family Foundation advised the Town the foundation would donate up to $400,000 to install a splash park, Big Lakes CAO David Reynolds told council.
“As this splash park would be under the governance of the joint recreation committee, there could be future expenses incurred by both the Town of High Prairie as well as Big Lakes County,” Reynolds noted.
He added the Town had put the project out to tender.
The quote from PlayQuest is $571,237.32, he reported.
“While multiple companies acknowledged they were going to provide a quote for the project, only one company submitted a quote on time,” Reynolds said.
“The quote that was received from PlayQuest was considered the middle of the road as far as size and cost is concerned, which mirrors what many residents indicated they would like to see, in a survey at the 2024 High Prairie Gun Show.”
He added other costs to be considered are a contingency of about $70,000, as well as installing other ancillary electrical work required for about $29,000 for a total project cost of about $670,000.
The foundation also pledged to donate $50,000 to cover operating costs, $10,000 annually for the first five years the facility is open.
Based on the assessment from the Town’s recreation manager, annual operating costs are estimated at $12,000, Reynolds said.
Since the planning for the project was launched, the Town has engaged residents on both the size and location of the splash park.
“Ultimately, it has been decided the splash park will be located close to the High Prairie Regional Aquatic Centre for ease of access to the current infrastructure,” Reynolds said.
A story in the March 6, 2024 issue of the South Peace News stated that a recent survey included in the High Prairie and District Recreation Master Plan indicated 56 per cent of respondents supported a splash park based on an estimated cost of $600,000 and annual operations cost of $15,000.