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Photo Credit: City of Belleville
The Parkdale playground is now open in Belleville.
Mayor Mitch Panciuk, council, members of the project team and representatives from the our kids charity were pleased to be in attendance for the official grand opening of the new, fully-accessible playground at Parkdale Veterans Park last week.
Parkdale has always been well utilized as a community hub with a trail, splash pad, swings, baseball diamond and community centre.
In 2019, construction began on the Field of Ability – the region’s first-ever fully accessible baseball diamond. The project featured a newly-paved trail through the park, covered picnic shelter, universal washrooms and barrier-free field with fully-rubberized turf, extended outfield, covered dugouts, bleachers, an announcer’s booth and electric scoreboard.
In the 2020 capital budget, Belleville city council approved the addition of an accessible play structure at the park in partnership with Medigas (Our Kids,) in the amount of $200,000. The Our Kids charity donated $75,000 to the project from the Rick Meaghar Medigas Celebrity Classic, covering 40 per cent of the total project costs.
City staff held a virtual open house in spring of this year to gather feedback from residents on the top three submitted proposals for the playground.
Residents are reminded that all City parks currently open to the public are to be used at their own discretion.