The next construction phase for a major Burquitlam park starts in the spring.
And it’ll have some elements new to parks in Coquitlam: a parkour playground.
This month, city council OK’d the final design for Phase 1B of Cottonwood Park, a 2.6-acre space on Aspen Street that will eventually grow to 11.5 acres when the park is complete.
Phase 1B, when finished next November, will double the existing Cottonwood Park and include:
• a softball diamond
• a Super 8 soccer field
• a full-size lit multi-use sport court with six basketball hoops and built-in hockey nets
• picnic tables with inlaid chess boards
• and parkour elements
“I think the parkour will be very, very popular,” said Coun. Chris Wilson of the discipline that uses military training movements such as vaulting, swinging and rolling.
Still, there were other amenities in Phase 1B that rubbed some councillors the wrong way.
Coun. Dennis Marsden, a former baseball coach, told council he’d prefer a traditional ball diamond rather than a smaller field designed specifically for softball while Wilson said he’d like to see pickleball lines on the sports court.
And Coun. Teri Towner suggested the city install bleachers on the slope, for soccer families to view the games. “There’s not a lot of room,” responded Lanny Englund, Coquitlam’s manager of park planning and forestry, during the Dec. 7 council meeting.
Phase 1B is being paid for, in part, with developer fees; cost savings from Phase 1A (which finished last year); and Concert Properties, which covered the design and construction expenses as part of its agreement for the nearby YMCA site development.
The annual operating and maintenance costs for Phase 1B is $80,000, with another $70,000 to be set aside each year for asset replacement.
As for Phase 1C of Cottonwood Park, the city intends to add lit tennis courts and a park trail linking with Cottonwood Avenue, according to a city report; however, that phase won’t happen until the property is transferred to the municipality, sometime before 2026.
