An accessible washroom at the inclusive play park in Liverpool likely won’t be finished until the end of 2026. (Rick Conrad)

Accessible washrooms at Liverpool’s universal playground and splash pad have been delayed as Region of Queens staff look into an off-grid design.

Regional councillors voted in April 2024 to speed up installation of the permanent washroom and change room facilities at the site, next to Queens Place Emera Centre.

But at a capital budget meeting just before Christmas, Director of Infrastructure Adam Grant told council that the $425,810 project has hit some roadblocks.

“We’ve done a lot of work in the background, trying to identify a feasible solution for that site. It is challenging, it’s constrained physically,” he said. 

“We do not have a lot of real estate to work within next to that parcel of land. There’s no provisions put in for electricity to allow for any development… So we have maybe 30 amps of power, which is not enough to run a facility like that. 
There’s no water provided for a washroom facility and there’s no wastewater whatsoever at the site. So it’s those three strict parameters and combined with having not much real estate to work within, that makes it very challenging to find a solution that fits within that footprint.”

The $600,000 Etli Milita’mk playpark opened in October 2023, the result of a years-long community fundraising initiative by local members of Autism Nova Scotia. The region contributed the land and about $112,000 to the project. The province chipped in the rest.

In the meantime, the region has supplied a portable accessible toilet for users of the park and splash pad, which is closed until the spring.

In response to a question from District 5 Coun. Jack Fancy, Grant said that power, water and sewer can’t be extended from the Queens Ground Search and Rescue building nearby because of the way the playpark was built.

“Unfortunately, with the building, the splash pad and the playground, we limited any opportunity to make any kind of addition in that area by putting a perimeter fence right into the curb and sidewalk. Getting involved with the asphalt to remove it, to put power, to put sewer (and) water, is going to get extremely expensive.”

Grant said that’s why staff are looking at some kind of off-grid accessible facility, though it will likely be more expensive to maintain.

“The caution is that it’s going to probably create a lot more of an operational burden than we’d like to see, but it will fulfill council’s wish to have an accessible facility there.”

The accessible washroom and change room at the playpark and splash pad are now expected to be finished by the end of 2026.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Kids play this week at the splash pad at Etli Milita’mk, the universally designed play park in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)

UPDATED JULY 20 at 10:30 a.m.

Region of Queens councillors will vote next week on whether to write off almost $51,000 in cost overruns and funding shortfalls at the universally designed play park in Liverpool.

Councillors voted last week to move the issue forward to their June 25 meeting for a final vote. Most of them appeared to support absorbing the cost.

District 2 Coun. Ralph Gidney was the only one against the motion to vote on the matter at their next meeting.

The provincial organization recently asked the municipality to cover $50,962 in unpaid bills on the $630,000 playground. Some $5,988.79 of that is interest on the overdue account.

Joanne Veinotte, director of corporate services, told councillors last week that Autism Nova Scotia told the municipality they believed that the region would cover any shortfalls.

“Fundraising was less than forecasted. The ACOA contribution was less than budgeted and there were cost overruns such as short-term security for surfacing materials, rescheduling of a rubber surface contract and extension of a rubber surface area. This all contributed to the overage.”

Beyond that, however, details about the overdue account were sparse. It was unclear what the outstanding bill is for or to whom, or when Autism Nova Scotia realized that there wasn’t enough money on hand to cover all the expenses of the project.

The playground is named Etli Milita’mk (pronounced ed-a-lee milly-dumk), which is Mi’kmaw for “we are playing here”. It opened last October, after years of community fundraising led by Queens County resident Debbie Wamboldt and others. It’s designed to be inclusive and accessible for everybody, regardless of ability or age. 

The community group raised about $100,000 on their own, with the region donating the land near Queens Place Emera Centre and committing $111,773 from its community investment fund. ACOA and the provincial government also contributed to the project.

Autism Nova Scotia issued charitable tax receipts and held the money in trust to pay the region for construction as invoices were submitted. The region also agreed to own, operate and maintain the playground.

QCCR tried numerous times for an interview with officials from Autism Nova Scotia. Last week, a spokeswoman said in an email that they were “unable to provide an interview at this time”.

QCCR asked the municipality this week for clarification on the account. In an email, Heather Cook, the region’s communications and engagement co-ordinator, explained that the municipality has paid all bills related to the park and no suppliers are owed money.

Because of cost overruns and funding shortfalls, she said, Autism Nova Scotia contacted the region in April to say that it would not be paying the full amount of the final invoice, which the municipality issued in January. The group did not pay any interest on overdue invoices during the term of the project, resulting in interest charges which contributed to the shortfall.

Councillors will vote on June 25 “to fund the outstanding interest charges and project overrun that (are) owed to the municipality due to the funding shortfall.”

The money would come from the municipality’s accumulated budget surplus.

District 1 Coun. Kevin Muise said last week that councillors had voted to donate the land and approve funding from the community investment fund. But he said they didn’t vote to cover any overruns.

District 3 Coun. Maddie Charlton asked if there was any additional information that staff could share with councillors before their next meeting.

CAO Cody Joudry, who took over in November, said there wasn’t.

“I don’t believe there is any other documentation to provide council. … From Autism Nova Scotia’s perspective, they’re like, ‘Well, it’s not really fair to make us cover the difference because we were just the pass-through and really the region was the one who was managing the project.’

“I think if we were doing this over again, we would have brought this to council a lot sooner, like in the construction phase and talked about these issues. But I can’t do anything about that now. So, unfortunately, Coun. Charlton, I do not believe there is any more information I can bring you.”

Councillors did not want to ask Autism Nova Scotia or the local fundraising group to cover the extra costs.

Mayor Darlene Norman said that it was nobody’s fault. Construction delays and weather last summer contributed to the extra expenses. 

She said in an interview Monday that it didn’t help that the region was without a full-time CAO for much of last year. Former CAO Chris McNeill left the job in May. 

“Remember, this was a time when we had no CAO last year, directors were shifting and taking those roles. And then we had the boil water situation happening, we had no permanent CAO. I’m not saying that’s any reason why this may have occurred, but obviously there was lack of communication between Autism Nova Scotia and Region of Queens staff.”

Norman said that in future, the region would likely approach projects like this differently.

“It was a lesson that if a project like this should ever be undertaken again there needs to be very firm rules respecting who manages what and conversations and communication between the two partners.”

The June 25 council meeting will be held at the Westfield Community Hall in North Queens.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Region of Queens councillors plan to cover cost overruns and funding shortfalls for the Queens universally designed play park in Brooklyn. (Rick Conrad)

The Region of Queens plans to pick up the tab for almost $51,000 that’s still owed on the universally designed play park in Brooklyn.

The $630,000 playground opened in October 2023. Named Etli Milita’mk (pronounced ed-a-lee milly-dumk), it was the initiative of Queens County resident Debbie Wamboldt, who led private fundraising for the park and who first approached the region in 2015 about supporting it.

It’s designed to be accessible and inclusive of everyone, regardless of age or ability.

The park includes ramped decks, braille and audio elements as well as a spray pad with sprinklers, a fountain, filler buckets and jet spray units.

Wamboldt and other volunteers raised about $100,000 toward the park’s construction. Autism Nova Scotia issued charitable tax receipts and held the money in trust to pay the region for construction as invoices were submitted.

The region initially contributed $111,773 from its community investment fund and it donated the land near Queens Place Emera Centre.

ACOA and the Nova Scotia government topped up funding.

The region also agreed to own, operate and maintain the playground.

On Tuesday, however, councillors were told that project costs exceeded revenue. Autism Nova Scotia said fundraising was lower than expected and the ACOA contribution was less than budgeted.

And there were construction cost overruns with the project such as the material and installation for the rubber surfacing in the park.

Because of that, Autism Nova Scotia asked the region to absorb that extra cost of $50,962. Just under $6,000 of that is the accumulated interest on the unpaid bill.

Mayor Darlene Norman said she and the rest of council were aware of the shortfall only last week.

“It was a dream to have this universal play park,” Norman said in an interview.

“Autism Nova Scotia agreed to be the body that would look after the accounting and the monies as they were collected with the agreement that it becomes the property of the region. It was at that point or sometime later, I’m not certain, that it was evident there may be a shortfall.”

Autism Nova Scotia told the region’s staff that it believed that the municipality agreed to cover any cost overruns or funding shortages.

District 1 Coun. Kevin Muise said he was involved in those negotiations and he doesn’t recall any such agreement. He said he wasn’t opposed to picking up the tab, but that council hadn’t agreed in advance to do that.

Other councillors said they were conflicted about the issue. They said the local fundraising group went “above and beyond” in their efforts to get the park built and councillors didn’t want to ask them to raise more money.

“The majority of council felt it was very unfair … understanding the valuable work that Autsim NS does, it would be very unfair to ask them for another $51,000 because of all they’ve done, and also felt it very unfair to ask the local fundraising committee to raise another $51,000.”

Norman said it’s money well spent.

“I can’t imagine why anyone would question why the municipality should pay the remainder of the cost on something that we own. It’s a lovely play park that as region taxpayers, we paid $161,000 for. And there will always be the dissenters and the naysayers who will say it’s the region’s fault. It’s a beautiful play park, and it’s a lot of money to construct it, however it belongs to the region and the region is paying that outstanding amount.”

The issue will come back to council’s June 25 meeting, where they will vote on taking the money from their accumulated budget surplus.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Hank Snow Playground. Photo courtesy Brookyn Recreation Committee

Kids in Brooklyn no longer need to worry about losing their playground.

The Brooklyn Recreation Committee announced they are receiving funding from the province to help refurbish the Hank Snow Playground.

Funding through the Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage will cover roughly a third of the approximately $20,000 it will cost to refurbish both swing sets, replace the maypole (spinning rings), and install a new merry-go-round.

The remainder will be paid through money raised by the local area rate.

The playground had been in danger of closing after community members raised concerns the equipment may no longer be safe.

Board member Wendy Vissers says the committee checked with their insurers and performed inspections on the equipment after reaching out to the Canadian Playground Safety Institute.

Vissers says through those conversations the board learned that playground doesn’t need to be shuttered just because equipment doesn’t meet the most up-to-date standards.

“The way it was described to me is OK if you build a house in the 40’s you build it to the code of the day which is the same as with the playground, and then as building codes change you don’t tear down your house and start fresh,” said Vissers. “You just, any work going forward is done to the new code.”

The board presented what they learned to the community at a public meeting.

A motion to close the playground was unsupported and died on the floor, keeping the playground open.

The only question now for Vissers and her team is when they can expect to see the new equipment on site.

“We’re in the queue so the equipment is officially, the order is in but it’s looking like some of the swing parts will be here in in August. So, hopefully you know, sort of as soon as that stuff arrives within a week or two, we could get that project done,” said Vissers. “The other larger pieces of equipment unfortunately, it’s looking like it’s probably going to be December by the time they arrive.”

Once it arrives, the Brooklyn Recreation Committee will be installing the new equipment themselves as the only certified installer in Nova Scotia is booked up.

The committee has confirmed they can perform the work without voiding the warranty or jeopardizing their insurance.

Vissers says when they are ready to install, they will be putting a call out to the community to lend a hand.

She’s confident there will be no shortage of volunteers.

“An announcement like this, yeah we’ve had nothing but positive feedback and suggestions from community members like, hey can we do any sort of fund-raising activities to help offset the cost and people coming forward to say yeah we’ll help, you know, donate some time to make it happen, and so you know it’s been very positive.”

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com

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Preliminary proposed design of park. Contributed by Queens universally designed play park committee

The Queens universally designed playground committee is closing in on their fundraising goal.

The committee is looking to raise $450,000 to build a playground that is accessible to people of all ages and abilities.

The group received an unexpected $5,000 donation this week from the South Shore chapter of Autism Nova Scotia.

Chairperson of the Queens universally designed playpark committee Debbie J Wamboldt says she had no idea the money was coming, despite the fact she is a member of the local Autism NS chapter.

“I didn’t have any say in this,” said Wamboldt. “It was something that the chapter wanted to do. They’ve supported the park from the very beginning and of course, our mandate is inclusion.”

The committee has raised $356,000 of the $450,000 needed to build the play park. They’ve received funding from three levels of government totalling $260,000, private donations of $10,000 from Telus and $50,000 from the J and W Murphy Foundation and approximately $36,000 from local community groups and individual donors.

The Region of Queens also donated the land at 72 Old Cobbs Barn Road, which will situate the play park next to the skate park and across from Queens Place.

Wamboldt says because the site is close to amenities but away from traffic and water it’s ideal for autistic children like hers, who may wander off.

It was a drive with her son a few years ago that motivated Wamboldt to push for the inclusive play park.

“When you’re a kid and you see all the other kids playing, we had a moment in the car where we drove by and he was crying in the back seat, asking me why we can’t go and we can’t play at a park with his friends. Because the parks are not safe for children with flight risks or children with disabilities,”said Wamboldt.

She says the group plans to break ground on the park sometime this spring.

They still need to issue a request for proposals, but Wamboldt says once a builder is selected, construction shouldn’t take longer than six weeks.

She admits the group is a bit concerned about starting work on the site without having the full amount in hand but says the support they’ve received to this point gives them confidence the funding will come through.

“You know, we’re throwing a Hail Mary and we’re really going for it,” said Wamboldt. “Behind the scenes we’re pushing, we’re looking at grants, we’re looking at who can we approach, who would be interested in having a hand in building this.”

Wamboldt says as far as she knows, the universally designed playpark will be the only one of its kind in Atlantic Canada, making it a draw for people from all around.

She’s excited the park will serve as an example of what inclusive design can mean.

“Once you make things accessible to people with disabilities, you make them accessible to everybody.”

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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