New playground at Topsail Beach should be ready by end of school year

By Craig Westcott

The playground at Topsail Beach Park is set for an approximately $300,000 spruce up this spring and should be ready by the end of June for children to check out the new equipment.
At a council meeting last month, CBS council approved the purchase of $168,000 worth of equipment from Coastline Specialties, with as much expected to be spent again on installing the playground, which will be shaped like a boat and boast a pirate’s theme.
Councillor-at-Large Joshua Barrett, who chairs council’s recreation committee, said the refurbishment has been a long time coming.
The Town managed to save 15 per cent on the cost of the equipment by using a national procurement program, Barrett said, even though there was only one qualified bidder for the supply of the materials.
“The structure itself is entirely inclusive, similar to what you would see in the community park behind Dominion,” said Barrett. “Somebody in a wheelchair, for example, will be able to access everything, with the exception of one slide. There will be multiple slides. It’s entirely inclusive, even the colours are inclusive. It’s about 2,000 square feet and it’s going to have the foam padding that you see in some of the newer playgrounds and that we have in the community park… That’s the structure, and we also have a standalone swing set on the side. That’s also going to be inclusive as well.”
Barrett said Coastline Specialties is the only company in the province that builds such structures. It will also be hired, through a separate contract, to install the playground. “They’re essentially the only ones who can do the work,” he said.
The start of construction is contingent on the weather.
“There is about a seven-week lead time on the infrastructure,” said Barrett. “But we’re hoping to get the site work done and ready in time so that when the equipment comes in, we can just put it in and then finalize the padding. We’re aiming for mid-June to have that available and ready. So hopefully the last day of school you can bring your kids down and they can try out the new equipment.”
The refurbishment of the park has been on the Town’s target list for improvements for years, Barrett said, and so council is excited to finally see the project move forward.