A $600,000 wheelchair-accessible playground is set to be ready in May for Nanaimo youngsters at the city’s waterfront Maffeo Sutton Park.
As well, a $200,000 Rotary Centennial Garden with paving, plants, pagodas and logs is being installed nearby on green space in the park, Scott Newlands, Nanaimo’s parks projects co-ordinator, said Thursday.
Maffeo Sutton Park, which overlooks Nanaimo Harbour and borders the Swy-a- Lana lagoon and swimming beach, is a central gathering place for the community.
Public art is set up throughout the site, and a harbour walkway and bridge attract walkers daily.
New playground features include a ground-level merry-go-round that children using wheelchairs will be able to wheel on and off, Newlands said.
Another play area will have a ramp allowing children with wheelchairs to get onto a piece of equipment.
Existing pea gravel is being removed and replaced with rubber matting and engineered softwood, Newlands said, which will make it easier for youngsters to walk or wheel through the playground and offer a safer surface in case of falls.
Work is expected to begin shortly on the playground, the first phase in a longer-term plan to upgrade the park. This phase targets children ages five to 12.
Local artist Noel Brown is creating First Nations pieces to tell the story of the Millstone River, which runs into the harbour, and to highlight its coho salmon stocks.
Nanaimo worked with the Children’s Health Foundation of Vancouver Island, the Nanaimo Child Development Centre and other community organizations to plan the play area, Newlands said. The $600,000 budget is covered by the municipality, the foundation and the child development centre.
Existing wooden play equipment installed in 1999 will be removed, he said.
Plans for subsequent phases of park upgrading are still in the works.
The second phase will see a play area for younger children, ages two to five.
