years), the City will get better value for its money by investing in the rubber based surface play units.
3. BACKGROUND :
City Council approved the audit of existing playground equipment outlined in report #15932 Removal of Non-Compliant Playground Equipment on March 28, 2012 as per council resolution CR129/2012 below,
That City Council AUTHORIZE Administration to proceed with the removal of playground equipment as outlined in Project #PFO-017-12 in the amount of $100,000 in 2012, and that it BE ALLOCATED as follows:
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$44,000 BE USED for an independent safety audit of all playground equipment, and that the Chief Administrative Officer and City Clerk be authorized to sign a contract in technical content and form to the City Solicitor, in financial content to the City Treasurer and in technical content to the satisfaction of the City Engineer;
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$56,000 BE USED to remove playground equipment in the priority noted in this report.
In September of 2013 an RFP was issued for the preparation of an independent third party audit of 132 play units in the City of Windsor park system. The successful proponent was Safeplay Recreation Inc. of Waterloo, ON. The audit was carried out in the fall of 2013 and the spring of 2014. Each of the 132 park inspections and audits were conducted utilizing the CSA National Standards
The Existing Playground System
The existing playground system has been developed over the past 25 years by the guidance of the City of Windsor Official Plan, the 1989 Culture and Recreation Master Plan, the CSA Standards and more recently by the AODA.
City of Windsor Official Plan
The City of Windsor Official Plan section 6.7 outlines the policies for open space. The neighbourhood park standards are outlined in Section 6.7.3.4 Neighbourhood Park Standards. Standard 6.7.3.4(a) provides that the design of neighbourhood parks include children’s playgrounds, along with other amenities see appendix ‘A’.
1989 Culture and Recreation Master Plan
The 1989 Recreation and Culture Master Plan included recommendations for the provision of playgrounds in neighbourhood parks. It was recommended that neighbourhood parks be supplied with safe and reliable equipment. At the time the master plan was approved in 1989 the supply and quality of playground equipment varied greatly across the park system. The existing neighbourhood parks had outdated equipment, equipment that was not installed to a common standard or in some cases the parks did not have any equipment at all.
As a result of the recommendations for playgrounds stated in the 1989 master plan and the rapid pace of residential development in the1990’s and early 2000’s the overall number of parks with