playgrounds increased from well under 100 to over 163playgrounds and at the same time the overall number of parks in the system increased from 155 to 209 .

Official Plan Park Classifications

The parks in the city are classified in the City’s Official Plan in two categories Regional/Community Parks and Neighbourhood Parks. Past practice has been to install play equipment to suit the size of the park and number of children in the area.

In general the largest play units are installed in Regional/Community parks to accommodate the number of users and the other related amenities such as soccer, baseball complexes or parks with picnic facilities. Medium and small units are placed in the Neighbourhood parks and are geared to the characteristics and demographics of the neighbourhood. For the most part the existing playground equipment installations have been scaled to fit the classification of the park. There are exceptions where Regional and Community parks also serve a Neighbourhood function.

Demographics

The most recent census data for the City of Windsor has shown that the population of children 15 years old and under has been in decline since 1995.The current census information indicates that the under fifteen year old population is at 36,000 or 17.1% of the total population.

4. DISCUSSION:

The purpose of this report is to provide Council with a summary of the playground audit, an overview of the existing playground system, an update on playground removals, a schedule for replacements and an evaluation of lifecycle costing for replacements based on asset management best practices.

In 2005 the playground system in city parks consisted of 163 playgrounds as outlined in the inventory attached as Appendix ‘B’ and has fluctuated since this time. The playgrounds are located in neighbourhood, community and regional parks. The oldest play unit in the system was installed in 1992 and the most recent in September of 2015.

Existing Inspections and Maintenance

The Parks Department has a Parks Supervisor and two Local 82 staff that are certified by the Ontario Parks Association as Registered Playground Practitioners and are responsible for inspections and repairs in the playground system. The staff perform regular inspections and maintenance on the playgrounds based on the CSA CAN/CSA-Z614-14 National Standard of Canada Children’s Play Spaces and Equipment .

The goal for Park Operations in the near future is to implement a maintenance management system that will utilize G.I.S technologies to track inspections, maintenance, repairs and asset lifecycle in the most efficient manner.