St. Albert would need to spend about $190,000 more each year if all 65 city-owned playgrounds were replaced with fully accessible versions, but city administration opposes the idea, according to a new report to council.
The report, published last week, is the result of an information request submitted by Coun. Wes Brodhead in April. It came after the Borodawka family raised more than $150,000 late last year to ensure the city replaced their neighbourhood playground on Lodgepole Crescent with a fully accessible structure so their four-year-old daughter Jordyn wasn't excluded from using it.
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Jordyn lives with congenital myasthenic syndrome, a neurological condition mainly characterized by muscle weakness. Among young children, the syndrome can also cause slower development, but for Jordyn living with the syndrome means she uses a ventilator to breathe and a feeding tube to eat.
The city's current policy for replacing playgrounds when the structures reach a certain age and condition is "like-for-like." This means when playgrounds such as the one on Lodgepole Crescent — which has a sand base, swings, and a small climbing structure with a slide — need to be replaced, the city aims to replace it with a structure that has the same level of service. This policy, as well as space and supportive amenity constraints at the park, is why city administration didn't plan to replace the Lodgepole playground with a fully accessible playground until the Borodawkas raised the necessary funds.
According to the new report, written by city supervisor of parks planning and stewardship Manda Wilde, the city budgets about $360,000 each year for playground replacement, and that budget would need to be bumped up to $550,000 per year if the city were to change its policy and replace all playgrounds with fully accessible versions when the time comes.
However, Wilde wrote, city administration opposes the idea.
“Not every playground should or is able to meet the full spectrum of play considerations,” Wilde wrote. “From a planning perspective, administration's approach is that, while not every playground needs to be fully accessible, there should be fully inclusive and accessible playgrounds available in key locations throughout the city.”
“In addition to the increased financial impacts, converting all playgrounds to a fully accessible standard would reduce play diversity opportunities across the city, and may not support needs across the full range of ages and abilities.”
In an email, Wilde said playgrounds that aren't fully accessible “can be designed in ways that are challenging, engaging and meet the needs of able-bodied individuals and individuals experiencing disability.”
“The city’s current approach to playgrounds balances our commitment to accessibility, inclusivity and play diversity to meet the needs of as many playground users as possible,” Wilde wrote. “This approach includes a network of playgrounds that, together, offer a range of challenging, enjoyable and inclusive features that meet the needs of the whole community.”
When asked about administration's position, Brodhead said in an interview “there's some words in the report that I wish weren't there.”
“Just because able-bodied children can go to the end of their cul-de-sac and play in a park doesn't mean that children that are challenged in one way or another shouldn't be able to go to that same park and enjoy it,” Brodhead said. “What are you saying to them? [That] you have to go and drive across town to go to a playground, whereas able-bodied children, they can just run to the corner.”
However, Brodhead added he had yet to speak with administration about the report, and “didn't want to read something into it that wasn't intended.”
“I recognize that it's hard work to sort of wrestle this whole thing to the ground in terms of what it means for the City of St. Albert, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't do the work,” he said. “Now, does that mean you do it overnight? No. We have to be strategic in how we do this, because it all costs resources.”
Brodhead said he plans to put forward a motion with another recommendation from administration included in Wilde's report: that administration develop “an accessible and inclusive playground strategy” at a cost of about $100,000.
This strategy, Wilde wrote, would see administration “bring back information and potential options for increasing inclusivity and accessibility in recommended playgrounds, including projected impacts to [repair, maintain, replace] budgets and asset life-cycling.”
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Brodhead said while he's not opposed to simply increasing the annual playground replacement budget, he'd rather the city have a plan in place to make sure the additional expenditure is done in alignment with the areas of the city that could benefit the most from a fully accessible playground.
“We've got 65 parks, we're upgrading them as they come based on a 20-year cycle, but neighbourhoods turn over,” he said. “I want to make sure that we spend the money correctly, so let's figure this out before we spend the money rather than spend the money and then figure it out afterwards.”
An estimated deadline for the strategy would be September of 2025, Wilde wrote, although Brodhead said he will be asking for a quicker turnaround given the next municipal election is scheduled to take place that October.
Other than the Lodgepole Crescent playground, the replacement for which is currently being designed, the only other fully accessible playground in St. Albert is the one at Fountain Park, which opened in the summer of 2022.
Wilde told the Gazette that regardless of any motions brought forward by council as a result of the new report, the city is planning to replace “city-wide” playgrounds, such as the ones at Lions Park and Woodlands Water Play Park, with fully accessible playgrounds when these playgrounds eventually need to be replaced.
“City-wide parks have sufficient space for additional amenities such as parking, washrooms and site access, which are identified as best practices for fully accessible playgrounds,” Wilde said.
“Smaller parks with playgrounds do not always have adequate space to offer these additional services and are not easily transformed into fully accessible playgrounds.”
Mayor Cathy Heron was not available for an interview, and Coun. Natalie Joly — who put forward the motion in May of 2021 directing administration to make the Fountain Park playground fully accessible — declined an interview request.
