Prince George City Council has approved funding for a new playground at Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park.
The item originally came to the Council table in October, staff had told Council the previous structure did not meet current design standards for accessibility, and had advanced to a condition where it required replacement.
The site is also a protected archaeological site, which requires monitoring and site mitigation works under the Heritage Conservation Act.
“The results of the assessment did not identify areas with characteristics consistent with cemetery burials, in terms of orientation and sizing, but did identify eight areas of interest with archaeological evidence of past human occupation and activity,” Director of Civic Operations Blake McIntosh told City Council at this week’s meeting.
Staff had asked Council to approve funding of $3 million for the project through the Endowment Fund Reserve.
Councillor Cori Ramsay said they should be looking at other sources for funding.
“I do think $3 million is a little steep for a playground, however, that being said, I think that this is going to be a multi-generational asset that’s going to last three decades,” she said.
“I think that this is going to meet some of our strategic goals to grow our community, so I am inclined to support it, I just would prefer if we could pull not all of it from Endowment, just to reduce the impact on the tax levy.”
Council agreed to fund the project through the Endowment Fund, but they also asked Administration to explore potential funding opportunities through the private sector, as well as the provincial and federal governments.
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