The creation of Festival Way to start at Rotary Park

Back in 2018, Council adopted the Sportfield Master Plan, which included a multitude of future additions to Graham Acres, the Learning Campus by Ecole St. Joseph School and Rotary Park. The most extensive upgrades are planned for Rotary Park, and on Monday, July 20, Council officially approved one of those projects. Named Festival Way, the wide cemented path will run alongside the existing playground and lead straight to the pavilion by the pond. Currently, there is a road there, but that has been blocked to traffic with gates for quite some time. The path will feature lighting and power, which Mayor Maryann Chichak said will be a big help for future festivals. “It will really appeal to artisan vendors and food trucks much more than in the past when vendors had to provide their own generators for power. The ability to come and plug-in and go, I think, will expand our opportunities and options in the future, which is nice!”

As shown in the rendering (pictured), the path will be a hangout area with plans for trees and benches. Other additions are shown in the rendering that will come later, including another pavilion and more activity areas. Festival Way will connect the back area of the park with the rest and add in one particularly important feature. “For myself, and I think council too, the most important thing is that it helps make Rotary Park barrier-free in terms of accessibility from age zero up to the elderly, including those who use walkers or wheelchairs or parents with strollers,” spoke Mayor Chichak. “It will take you from the parking lot and transition directly into Rotary Park. It is something we have anticipated doing for years, and it was approved tonight, so we are very happy,” she said.

Originally back in 2018/2019, the budget for the project was much higher. “It was about $618,163, and in 2019 we reviewed it again and cut down that budget to $510,000,” explained Director of Community Services Chelsea Grande. “As the tender amounts came back in, our lowest tender was a little bit over budget because we had used some of the dollars for the design work.” Another reason for the increased cost was due to concrete. “Concrete prices were a little higher on all of our projects this year,” she said. After the design, the construction budget was $471,432.50. With a shortfall of $39,472.50, Administration looked to Council to cover the difference while they continued to seek out ways to cover it.

She explained that there is a grant that they applied for in partnership with the Rotary Club of Whitecourt that they have not heard back from yet. She said they are also talking with partners to see if there are any other grants they can apply for to secure the needed funds. “We are asking Council to fund the shortfall right now, which is $39,472.50 from the Power Surplus Reserve so that we can get started with that project and move forward and get it finished in this construction season, or at least well underway during this construction season.”

For those wondering why the project could not just be put on pause until the remaining funds are secured, Grande explained that some of the money raised for the project is time-sensitive. “The town has $100,000 secured through the Enabling Accessibility Fund Grant, $131,715 from the Rotary Club of Whitecourt together with Pembina, and $239,717.50 is from the Future Community Project Reserve. If we do not finish this project by next May, we will have to return the dollars back to the Enabling Accessibility Fund.” That would be a loss of $100,000 for the project.

Councillor Ray Hilts said that he understands the situation from both sides. “In terms of where we are sitting with COVID, our budget and the uncertainty, one might move to say, do we need to do the project right now? But to Chelsea’s point, we have partners involved with the projects, and we do have funds that will expire.” The good news is that the funds that will be used to pay the shortfall do not come through a tax increase, nor do they pull funds away from any other projects.

The Power Surplus Reserve supports projects specific to power needs, such as lighting. The reserve helped fund the upgraded lighting that was added to downtown Whitecourt and will be used to help with Festival Way since there will be lights there too. Deputy Mayor Derek Schlosser said he was excited to get the project going. “I think this is going to be a gem for years to come. This is something very exciting for our community, and I’m glad to see we have a budget for it and that we planned ahead for this.”

Councillor Pickard agreed. “I would like to commend previous councils for having the foresight to have those reserves. I would hate to have seen a half a million dollar project stimmed over less than 40 thousand dollars. This kind of foresight, when we get into a situation like this, allows us the flexibility.” Four companies put in bids for the project, and the winning bid was from Signature Contractors Windsor Inc for $510,905.00. The serviced pedestrian pathway will now move forward as Council passed the motion unanimously.

To view the Sportfield Master Plan in its entirety head to the town’s website, www.whitecourt.ca. Click on the search icon and type in “Sportfield Master Plan,” then click on the first option, which says, “Publications and Reports.” It is at the very end of the list.