St. Albert residents are being asked to provide feedback on an initial design of a future park space in Erin Ridge North.
Once developed, Element Park will be the northernmost park within the city limits. The park space is located north of the Costco on Element Drive North, east of the Ernest Boulevard intersection.
The park's initial design, which city spokesperson Tamara Russell said will change after feedback is received, features a boarded outdoor rink; a “nature play area”; open green space that will double as a social skating rink in the winter; and a climbing wall.
Some sketches of the future park space that can be downloaded from the city's Cultivate the Conversation platform show the climbing wall being proposed is about three of four metres tall and long enough to have four to five people climbing at a time.
The park's nature play area, according to the project's Cultivate the Conversation page, could feature balancing elements, additional climbing structures beyond the proposed climbing wall, a wooden play structure, and spinning and monkey-bar-like features.
“This play area is intended to be small, with a limited amount of play equipment and may consider non-traditional equipment like natural rocks for climbing,” Russell said. “The initial design of the play area will be developed with feedback from public participation and is proposed as nature play to align with the natural play area [that is already in place].”
Russell also said accessibility will be something considered in future designs of the play area.
“The existing play area is surfaced with engineered wood fibre, which is an accessible surface and the additional play area is proposed to have the same surfacing,” she said. “Accessibility of [the play area] features will be considered, along with public feedback, in the final design.”
To gather feedback on what residents would like to see included in the park, the city is holding a public open house on Wednesday, Feb. 21, from 4-7:30 p.m. at Servus Place.
As well, residents can fill out a six-question survey about Element Park online the Cultivate the Conversation platform. The survey will be open until Feb. 25.
“Your input will help determine the park and play area, features and overall design,” the project's Cultivate the Conversation page reads.
“Your input along with considerations of budget, available space, plans for other neighbourhood parks and partnerships will help to influence decision-making.”
The park's design is expected to be finalized in 2025, after which the project will be added to the city's long-term capital plan, which will determine when it's feasible for construction to begin when other budgetary needs are considered on a year-to-year basis.
The park space will cover about 1.9 hectares, not including the surrounding stormwater management pond.
Given the park's land size, Element Park will be considered a “community park,” one of three types of parks the city plans for and regulates through its internal Parks and Open Space Standards and Guidelines document.
Community parks, as explained in the standards and guidelines document, are parks that provide “structured recreation amenities” such as outdoor rinks, ball diamonds, tennis courts, or other types of sports fields that cannot be included in small “neighbourhood parks” or bigger “city parks” such as Lacombe Lake Park and Red Willow Park.
Other examples of community parks in St. Albert are Flagstone Park, Deer Ridge Park, and Willoughby Park. Flagstone Park, for example, features a boarded outdoor rink, a ball diamond, a small playground, and a soccer field.
Within the last six months, both the St. Albert Soccer Association and Fastball St. Albert have raised alarms with council about how the number of playing surfaces for their respective sports — which are soccer fields and ball diamonds included in community parks — haven't kept up with the number of kids signing up to play.
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