The redevelopment of H. Murray Smith Centennial Park in Amherstburg has been put on hold.
The $1-million project was back in front of council on Monday night because the town missed out on provincial funding that would have covered half of the costs.
In October 2024, council approved spending $530,000 on the project, leaving the town to decide how they would like to proceed.
Administration presented council with five options on Monday night to use the money already set aside.
Options presented included building:
Coun. Peter Courtney asked council to defer the item to 2026 budget deliberations.
"I want to make sure that what council decides to with H. Murray Smith, we have the proper funding in place, so that's the reason for the deferral, just to allow time for staff to investigate, seek third-party private funding," Courtney said.
Coun. Don McArthur agreed with Coun. Courtney.
"At budget time, you're going to get more bang for your buck, instead of sort of piecemealing the project out to build two courts, or four courts at once, certainly there's economies of scale, as opposed to doing half of one, half of another, so it make sense for financial reasons," McArthur said.
Coun. Diane Pouget hoped that her fellow councillors remained committed to fixing up the park.
"This park has been so neglected from the very first day it was sold, and that money was suppose to be spent on putting the park back to its original glory, and it's been neglected very bad," Pouget said.
2026 budget talks are expected to begin in the fall.