Costs for the life of the asset includes labour associated with inspections, general maintenance requirements, as well as any significant rehabilitation work noted, such as replacement of surface and or deterioration of various components. It can be expected that actual costs will likely vary depending on when units are replaced and what type of play unit is actually installed.

Sand vs. Rubberized Surfaces

The tables below demonstrate the projected initial capital outlays of traditional sand-based surface playgrounds versus the rubber-based surface playgrounds. The tables reflect the initial capital outlays as well as the full cost to operate and maintain the play units over their expected 20 year life. This presents a more holistic overview of the actual costs to the City of pursuing either option. While sand-based surfaces are not even an option to the City anymore, due to AODA requirements, we are still presenting it for this report so that it can properly be measured against the direction we are going, namely towards installing more rubber-based surface playgrounds.

PLAYGROUNDS WITH RUBBER-BASED SURFACE
	Small	Medium	Large
Initial Capital Costs	$ 173,757	$ 261,550	$ 326,306
Net Present Value - All Costs over 20 Years	$ 449,517	$ 605,952	$ 670,708

PLAYGROUNDS WITH SAND-BASED SURFACE
	Small	Medium	Large
Initial Capital Costs	$ 129,783	$ 194,641	$ 252,384
Net Present Value - All Costs over 20 Years	$ 536,787	$ 671,731	$ 731,011

These tables demonstrate that while the initial capital outlays of pursuing sand-based playgrounds is lower, when factoring in total life-cycle costs over the 20 year life of the assets, it is actually more economical to pursue the rubber-based playgrounds, despite the higher initial capital costs. A key driver in the difference is associated with how labour intensive sand surfaces are compared to rubber. As an example of this would be the time it takes to inspect a sand surface is well over an hour as the sand itself must be sifted and searched for glass other debris, whereas with a rubberized surface a visual scan of the area can be completed in 15 minutes. Sand surfaces also require significantly more labour to till the sand and keep it loose, something which is not required of a rubberized surface.

This conclusion fits nicely with AODA requirements and produces other benefits to the Corporation such as mitigating our risk of operating playgrounds. Because the rubber-based surfaces are so comparatively more affordable from an operational perspective, allows the City to redirect labour to other park initiatives as sand-based surfaces are highly labour intensive.

Full Replacement (Option A) versus Consolidation (Option B)

Option ‘A’, is the option where all 148 playgrounds which were identified in our inventory at the start of 2015 would be replaced. Option ‘B’ describes the scenario where certain playgrounds that have or are being removed from the system, will not be replaced. The Parks Design Development division reviewed the entire City to determine which playground units are not 15 of 61