Blandford-Blenheim Township Council awarded two contracts for the Princeton Accessible Playground Project during its council meeting on Wednesday, October 16, 2024.
Having received grant funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and with support from the community-led group, Friends of Princeton Park, plans to construct an accessible playground in Princeton are well underway.
With input from the Oxford County Accessibility Advisory Committee, the playground project has been designed to create a high-quality and inclusive space where people of all abilities, “including seniors, persons with disabilities, Indigenous groups, and other marginalized communities” can feel welcome.
After going to tender on September 26, 2024, Township staff and representatives from Friends of Princeton Park evaluated four proposal bids for the playground equipment, as well as four proposals for the accessible flooring throughout the park.
Having made the evaluations based on company qualifications and experience, creativity and aesthetics, accessibility considerations, technical requirements, warranty, delivery and installation and financial pricing, both Henderson Playground Equipment and Multi Turf Canada were awarded the contracts.
“Based on those evaluations, Henderson Playground Equipment was selected by the Friends of Princeton Park and Township staff for its offering of eight accessible and exclusive pieces of equipment, and Multi Turf Canada was chosen to provide flooring that ensures seamless accessible flooring through the entire playground area,” said Trevor Baer, Blandford-Blenheim’s Director of Community Services. “Henderson Playground came in at $178,435.47 and Multi Turf Canada came in at $69,988.73 for the total project cost of $248,423.47. The township will be putting in five per cent, Friends of Princeton Park is putting in about 13 per cent, and Trillium will be doing 82 per cent.”
Baer said that the contributions from both Henderson Playground Equipment and Multi Turf Canada, will ensure that the park will have a safe, accessible playground that aligns with community values and meets AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) standards.
Speaking to the project coming under budget, Mark Peterson, Mayor for the Township pf Blandford-Blenheim Township, said it was a good news story for taxpayers.
“It’s always nice for the taxpayers when [projects] come under the budget,” he said. “It’s something that I’d like to see more of in more of our communities as well and I’m sure we’ll be looking at that down the road in the future but it’s a really good news story for our township.”
Staff’s report was then received and the tenders were approved by a unanimous vote.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
