Mersea Park in Leamington will be receiving substantial improvements, as well as new splash pad.
During Tuesday's meeting, council voted in favour of the improvements to the park, with many councillors expressing the volume of residents who use the park and the dire needs for accessibility upgrades.
The $2,850,000 project will see many improvement, including replacing the existing playground equipment, improving the existing washroom facility, the installation of a new splash pad with changing rooms, an extended paved path around the park, expanding and paving the current parking lot as well a new paved parking lot in the southeast corner.
The other option presented to council was to move ahead with the improvements without the splash pad, which would have cost the Municipality $1,577,300, however many of the councillors felt the splash pad would be consistently used by residents.
Mayor Hilda MacDonald says she wasn't sure which avenue council would want to go, but is happy that they have decided to install the splash pad.
She says it's a great feature.
"It draws people to the waterfront, it draws them outside and it's something for folks to do while somebody's playing a ball game, and the kids can be in the splash pad. So it's just quality of life for the people that live in Leamington."
Councillor Tim Wilkinson was opposed to adding the splash pad, and says it's something that could be added later on.
"It'd be more in favour of going to the $1.5-million, bringing it up to speed so it is updated and responsibly brought up to speed. We do have a splash pad within a couple of miles of that, maybe we can look at it down the road. But, I'd be in favour of I guess Option 2, at $1.5-million, for myself."
Councillor Anthony Abraham says he understands the splash pad comes with a big price tag, but if council waits, it may cost even more.
"I just think if we're going to start digging, I agree, dig once and get it over with. It's a challenging bite, almost a $1-million differential, my concern is if we decide to do it three, four years from now, what will the cost be?"
Councillor Paul Tiessen says Mersea Park is always busy, and with more people coming to the area, a splash pad would be beneficial.
"The ball diamonds are constantly being used, Sunday's you can't find parking down there. And yes there is another splash pad close by, but that one is also being extremely well used. We're getting more subdivisions creeping closer down that way, I think you will see increase use, even with a splash pad."
Councillor Heather Latam says it makes sense to invest in the splash pad now.
" I raised my kids at Mersea Park. And what I wouldn't have given for a splash pad, and for somewhere for us to walk and something that was a little bit more accessible for some of my family members to join us down there. And I think that with all of the new housing, with the Caldwell's, with Point Pelee, with everything that we have going on down there, it only makes sense to invest now."
In the 2023 approved capital budget, the Mersea Park Renewal was funded a total budget of $1.1-million.
By moving forward with the splash pad, the $1,800,160 variance will be funded through Development Charges and the Contingency Reserve.
Once the full design is complete and tenders are received, administration will bring a report back to council to request approval for the award of construction and a definitive financial strategy.