Grey Highlands council has voted in favour of a community effort to build a new children’s playground at the former ballpark in Maxwell.
At its meeting on June 15, council received a delegation from Maxwell resident Diane Kennedy, who represented the Maxwell Park Committee and its chair Cody Maxwell. Kennedy presented council with the group’s plans to construct a new playground at the location of the old ballpark on Grey Road 2.
“As new families continue to come to the Maxwell area, it is very evident that our children and grandchildren, their parents and grandparents need a safe place for play and quality family time in a beautiful outdoor environment,” said Kennedy. “This proposed exciting new family initiative in our community will offer a modern, safe, commercial-grade playground set along with swings, picnic tables, horse posts and a gazebo for people of all ages to enjoy. At this time, we are requesting council’s support in repurposing the existing ball diamond site to a children’s playground. Your support will allow our committee to initiate our fundraising plans.”
The report from the committee included a draft budget for the project of $205,000. The committee hopes to get $100,000 in grant funding, raise $55,000 from local donations and requested council set aside $50,000 in the 2023 budget for the project.
Members of council were supportive of the project and voted 7-0 in favour of having municipal staff work with the committee on the concept and come back to council with a report about how the project can move forward.
Deputy Mayor Aakash Desai raised concerns that the playground could inhibit the use of the facility for baseball-related activities.
“Would the playground equipment infringe upon the use of the ball diamond as a ball diamond?” Desai asked.
Mayor Paul McQueen said in his younger years he played ball in Maxwell, but in recent times the lights had been removed from the field. While Kennedy noted that all that was left of the baseball field was the fence for the backstop.
Coun. Paul Allen said a full staff report would answer any questions about the park.
“This is very preliminary,” Allen said of the request from the committee. “I’m sure we’ll get a report back for a final decision. If we could have a $205,000 park and a community group funds 75 per cent of it, we need to jump on it.”
