Spray park proposal by Grade 2 students makes city project list
Yellowknife mayor Mark Heyck says park slated for 2017, but could be bumped up to 2016
Yellowknife City Hall is mulling the addition of a spray park to the Somba K’e Civic Plaza, and you can thank a group of well-prepared eight-year-olds for that.
Mayor Mark Heyck says the original idea for the 3,000-square-foot water attraction — currently listed in the city's 2017 capital project plans — came from a presentation made this past June by two Grade 2 classes from Range Lake North School.
"They each wrote letters about the need for a splash park," says Heyck.
"They supplied preliminary designs. They polled their fellow students to see, 'Do you want to get sprayed? How many pieces of equipment do you want?' They even asked, 'How much money would you pay [to get in]?' The majority actually said they would pay $5."
Impressed by the children's resolve, Heyck then asked city administration to roughly cost out the project.
It's currently priced at $585,000, though as Heyck notes, "That's subject to change quite a bit depending on the water system you're using, whether it's got to be treated and filtered or whether it just goes in and out."
Heyck adds that if the project comes in at an affordable price, it could be bumped up to the city's 2016 budget.