Jumpstart Charities wants to gift a $500,000 accessibility-friendly multisport court facility to Prince George to be built at Carrie Jane Gray Park.
The charity would be responsible for building and installing the court, while the city would have to pay for the site preparation for the project.
After some discussion, city council agreed to consider the site preparation costs in the 2022 capital budget deliberations.
Marco Di Buono, associate vice president of programs at Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities attended the Oct. 4 council meeting to explain the gift and the city’s commitment.
In spring of 2021, with support from Selen Alpay, from Prince George’s Canadian Tire and Jumpstart Charity contacted the city to explore the establishment of an inclusive play project.
A multisport court was chosen as it provides multiple sport configurations and can serve all ages and abilities.
The new facility would be located within the Carrie Jane Gray recreation corridor adjacent to the new Fire Hall.
Jumpstart Charities has partnered with municipalities across Canada to build multisport facilities across the country.
Jumpstart, through its contractor, provides the equipment, materials and associated construction services to build the facility once the site has been developed and prepared for a cost of $500,000.
“That would include all the project management, the planning and the construction,” said Di Buono.
The city’s contribution would include site preparation would include geotechnical investigation, earthworks, site grading, asphalt pad, electrical servicing, accessibility improvements and associated costs to complete these works.
“Should this be approved we are working with a consultant to determine costs to go to construction in 2022,” said Blake McIntosh, Director Civic Operations.
Jumpstart recently completed the same multisport court in Thompson, Manitoba.
Di Buona said the cost for the preparation for the city of Thompson was $285,000 but that price was greater than it would be in Prince George because Thompson does not have access to local asphalt suppliers.
“I’ll support it and we will see what happens at budget,” said Coun. Brian Skakun. “It is a good initiative but I think we have to ask some tough questions.”
Coun. Cori Ramsay said this is the first time she’s seen a gift on the council agenda and she was “floored”.
“It is such an incredibly generous donation,” said Ramsay, who then suggested the city’s accessibility committee become involved in the project, should it proceed.
“I look forward to seeing this come in full form at budget but it is such a generous donation to our city.”
The 13, 200 sq. ft. multisport court would include features like contrasting colours to support visual impairment, shaded double-wide benches, wheel-chair accessible seating and shaded accessible bleachers.
The first court would include lines for basketball, tennis, and hockey as well a six fixed-height and two adjustable-height basketball nets and a tennis net.
The second court in the project would include an adjustable net, sport lines for volleyball, sitting volleyball, pickleball, and badminton as well as a self-guided play area with a high contrast four-square court and high-contrast hop-scotch court.
“The surfacing material we’ve chosen with our vendor partners is resilient enough that with a simple plastic tarp the court can be flooded in the wintertime to create a natural skating surface for participants to enjoy with either a sledge or traditional skates in the wintertime,” added Di Buona.
“One of the things we want to accomplish with this is to bring to bear all the expertise and partnerships we have in the disability landscape to create a space that is going to serve not just as a recreational space but as an advocacy tool to become more aware about the need for inclusive spaces.”
Council voted to approve the recommendation to direct administration to include the project in the 2022 Capital Expenditure Plan process.
