The existing playground currently sits at the side of the building, whereas the new structure will be more of a standalone piece, said Freeman. “It’s reflective of how the community works together to support children, really.” “This is going to be a new playground, new up to date standards, bigger, all those great things,” said Freeman. Kenny said they haven’t and will never lock the gate to the playground.ĭiane Freemen is the councillor for the Ward 4 community where the park is being built. “But if you drive by this property on the evenings or weekends, it is quite common to find families using the playground.” “We will use the playground quite extensively for our own programming needs,” she said. Computer generated image renderings of the playground show multicoloured structures and features with unique designs that meet AODA playground standards. Kenny also mentioned that colour choices for the playground were carefully thought out to accommodate children with sensory issues. Kenny noted that, to meet accessibility needs, the surface first had to be rubberized, monkey bars were made lower than standard sets, the spinning carousel has a port for a wheelchair, there is an accessible swing, and all areas of the main structure have ramps. Image renderings of what the playground will likely look like show a multitude of unique equipment designs, meant to suit those accessibility standards. The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act dictates these standards as having: “There are a lot of standards that we had to meet in order to achieve that designation.” However, the fully playground being built at KidsAbility “may be the only one where we can truly say it’s fully accessible,” said Kenny. Kenny mentions there are playgrounds in the region that offer accessibility features, in Waterloo Park and in Elmira. “There are such limited opportunities for a fully accessible playground,” said Linda Kenny, CEO of KidsAbility. The new playground will have a rubberized surface to accommodate mobility devices and all the equipment is accessibly by wheelchair. Waterloo city council approved $25,000 of funding towards a centre for child development’s initiative to build a fully accessible playground in Ward 4 on Monday. The monkey bars might be lower, but the bar to accessibility in Waterloo was raised in a city council meeting on Tuesday.
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