The new artificial turf field in Queen's Park is going to cost more than what was first envisioned.
Earlier this year, city council approved the Queen's Park east field site as the location for construction of a new artificial turf field, and allocated $2 million in the city's capital budget for the project. Staff and consultants have since finalized the design specifications and issued the tender call for the project's civil works, which includes excavation, field base construction, drainage, hard and soft landscaping (such as retaining walls, pathways and furnishings) and field lighting.
A staff report to city council stated that the lowest bid for the civic works would exceed the approved budget by $295,000. The report noted that the extent of excavation and a retaining wall may be greater than originally anticipated.
"The overall footprint size of the field, which includes field configurations for both softball and conventional 'rectangular' field sports, in conjunction with measures taken to protect the row of large oak trees to the west of the site are the primary drivers behind the extent of the excavation work required," said a staff report. "To help mitigate the impact of this additional work, the overall site landscaping has been developed to a very modest standard with only those features that are absolutely necessary to support the field activities being retained in the final design."
Council has approved supplementing funding of $295,000 for the Queen's Park artificial turf field project. Staff had recommended that two park projects (Hume Park playground equipment replacement and Queensborough Community Centre front lawn landscaping) be deferred to a future year.
