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Grand opening of park a success

> 4.3 million spent on renovations to Rochester Park

 

Colten Kamlade
Staff Reporter

 

Rochester Park, in Coquitlam, was recently
renovated. Other Press reporter Colten
Kamlade attended the grand opening of
the renovated park on September 12.

he noise of the city seems to fade to a

dull hum inside the park perimeters.
In the forested ravine birds sing and
water trickles downhill, while in the
playground above children laugh and
play. Moments before, ribbons were cut
and speeches were made, signifying the
grand opening of the newly renovated
Rochester Park. Children from Maillard
Middle School, Rochester Elementary,

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The project added “a zip-line, water play area,

climbing wall, and a large slope slide.”

 

and the Traditional Learning Academy all
attended the event, and from their excited
squeals it seems to have been a success.
Andre Isakov, park planning and
design manager for the City of Coquitlam,
said he is also happy with the finished
product. One of the most distinguishing
features of the new park is the innovative
playground, according to Isakov. Designed
by a “consulting team with experience in
landscape architecture, engineering, and
architecture,” the wood log structure looks
more like a tree fort than a playground.
Other aspects of the park are also unique,

he said, noting that the terraced fields—
connected by a large slide—and the
climbing wall are all unusual sights for a
city park. Surrounding these oddities is
more common playground fare; swings, a
spray park, and even a small skate park.
During email correspondence with
Isakov, he said that Rochester Park was
chosen for renovation based ona review
of “park service and amenity demands
and needs’ as well as “distribution of park
services.” The project added “a zip-line,
water play area, climbing wall, and a large
slope slide.” Coquitlam does not intend

Pattullo Bridge replacement still
unfunded after budget update

> Bridge tolls, prior to elimination, were expected to fund project

Jake Wray
News Editor

 

he future of the Pattullo Bridge
replacement project is uncertain
after the BC government eliminated
bridge tolls, which were expected to
fund most of the project, and neglected
to allocate alternative funds ina
recent provincial budget update.

The 80-year-old bridge is in
notoriously poor condition. A report
issued to the TransLink board of
directors by Sany Zein, TransLink’s
acting vice president of infrastructure
management, on September 8, 2016 said
the bridge “may be vulnerable” during

an earthquake or extremely high wind.
Replacing the bridge is a key
priority in TransLink’s 10-Year Vision.
Planning on the replacement project
officially began in 2016 and construction
was expected to begin early in 2019.
The new bridge was supposed
to be financed primarily with a loan,
and tolls collected from the new
bridge would pay off that debt, but the
new provincial government’s stance
on bridge tolls has eliminated that
funding option, according to Jonathan
Coté, chair of the TransLink Mayors’
Council funding strategy committee.
Coté, mayor of New Westminster,
said he is “cautiously optimistic”
the NDP government will provide a

funding alternative for the Pattullo
Bridge replacement project, adding
that the Province recently promised
to compensate TransLink for lost toll
revenue from the Golden Ears Bridge.

The Pattullo Bridge will only last for
six or seven more years, but building a
new bridge will take at least five years, so
it’s important to lock in a replacement
strategy soon, according to Coté.

The TransLink Mayors’ Council
discussed planning the replacement
project without toll revenues at a
meeting on July 27, according to minutes
from the meeting, but Coté said they
haven't begun contingency planning
for the possibility that the replacement
project could fall through entirely.

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Photo by Analyn Cuarto

to stop at Rochester Park, however, but
“has an ongoing plan to develop new
parks and renovate existing parks.”
Most of these parks are in
Southwest Coquitlam. According to
the Coquitlam Parks, Recreation, and
Culture website, the program “will
focus on twelve neighbourhood parks
in the Burquitlam, Lougheed, and
Central Coquitlam neighbourhoods.”
The renovation of Rochester Park
seemed to bea success with parents
and children alike, but it does come at
a price. The cost of renovations totalled
$4.3 million, according to Isakov. On
top of that, he said, the budget for
the grand opening was four thousand
dollars, spent on “healthy snacks,
entertainment, active games, face
painting, [and] rentals of equipment.”

“There hasn't been detailed planning
at this stage about if the bridge has to be
decommissioned for a few years, or even
permanently,” he said. “I would say we'll
know a year from now whether we'll need
to start having those conversations or not.”

The government is “committed”
to the replacement project, but needs
more time to review a final business
case for the project, according to an
e-mail statement from the Ministry of
Transportation and Infrastructure.

TransLink is “working with the
provincial government to discuss funding
options” for the project, according to
a bulletin on the TransLink website.