A new amenity is coming to Festival Park

By Serena Lapointe

Festival Park is an always-evolving space with new additions and upgrades constantly
being planned and implemented by the municipality. As one of the busiest spots in
Whitecourt, especially during the spring, summer and fall, not only for locals but for
visitors, the additions quickly become part of the fabric of the park, well used and well
loved.
Over the last twenty years or so, the park has seen one and then two river slides added
in, which certainly amped up the park’s popularity, an elaborate playground structure,
various benches and tables, Festival Way for markets and events, and, most recently,
the bouncy pillow, which is always in a state of hilarious chaos as kids and adults alike
enjoy its rebounding effect.
Soon, the newest addition to the park will be under construction. So, what is it? The
project consists of three fenced in multi-use courts that will allow community members
to play a variety of different sports all in the same spot, including the fast favourite
pickleball and always popular ball hockey. Making the project even sweeter is that it is a
partnership between the Town of Whitecourt, the Rotary Club of Whitecourt, Woodlands
County and the Active Communities Initiatives Fund.
During the June 22 Regular Meeting of Whitecourt Town Council, elected officials were
tasked with selecting a company to complete the project, which will also include spaces
for badminton, tennis, and basketball. Two companies bid on the project, E-Construction
and Knelsen Sand and Gravel. E-Construction’s bid was for $1,179,059, and Knelsen’s
was for $1,268,969.54.
Stantec Consulting was acquired by the municipality to review submissions and ensure
compliance before making a recommendation on which one should be chosen.
Unfortunately for the municipality, the two tenders received came in over budget, by
about 30 percent, raising the cost of the project by roughly $230,000.
There was good news, though. Juan Grande, Manager of Infrastructure Services,
explained that upon review of the project, they discovered that a landscaping portion of
the tender, including topsoil and sod, valued at just under $180,000, could be done in-
house by municipal crews instead of having it be part of the award, shaving that value
from the project. The new cost now lingered about nine thousand dollars above one
million.
But, even with the in-house landscaping swap, the tenders for the project were still
above the planned budget of $780,000. The original budget had the Rotary Club of
Whitecourt, including the grant from the Active Communities Initiative Fund, donating

$441,527 to the project and the Municipal Sustainability Capital Grant providing
$265,090. With a bigger budget, those numbers remained the same, meaning that the
funding for the remaining bit needed to come from somewhere else.
Grande said part of the cost would come through the cost-share with Woodlands
County (+$52,823), and the rest (+$176,640.50) was recommended to come from the
Town of Whitecourt’s Infrastructure Reserve. Administration recommended that council
award the project to E-Construction and the group did just that, unanimously.
Town Council also queried how it worked when a municipal project planned for one
year’s budget ended up over budget and how that overage was dealt with in terms of
sharing the cost with a partner, in this case, Woodlands County. Administration clarified
that it was possible to have the overage paid over a longer time period, adding that
expecting it to be paid that same year wasn’t fair to either party. Discussions on how
that cost is handled and by what schedule will take place between the two
municipalities.
Grande said the project itself was exciting. He also noted that discussions happened
with user groups. In total, there will be 2,545 square metres of court surface available,
and it will be designed to accommodate a wide range of different activities, as
previously mentioned. For context on size, the courts will house twelve pickleball courts,
allowing the ever-growing pickleball community in Whitecourt to potentially hold events,
if wished, and grow its numbers. There will also be two tennis courts, one hockey court
and one basketball court. The space will be designed for ease of use with removable
posts and nets, allowing for quick transitions between sports, providing the maximum
flexibility possible for users.
Councillor Brian Wynn asked where the nets and equipment would be stored for users
to access and how that would work. Grande said he wasn’t too sure, as it would be a
discussion between the Community Services and Infrastructure departments, and that it
wasn’t part of his role to decide those parameters. However, he mentioned that they
could potentially be housed at the concession stand or maybe even the new Canfor
Culture and Events Centre. Those details will be ironed out soon enough. It was also
mentioned that park staff would likely be the ones setting up nets as requested by
users. The courts are slated for completion sometime this fall.