Christmas Park to get overhaul

BY ANDY BLATCHFORD

andy.blatchford@transcontinental.ca

Beaconsfield moved to secure a loan Monday night to revamp one of its busiest parks.

Mayor Bob Benedetti said Christmas Park has “soggy” outfields, poor lighting and asphalt tennis courts riddled with cracks. “It’s in bad shape,” he said. “It’s a well-used park.”

The loan bylaw adopted Monday will enable the city to spend as much as $400,000 to refurbish the Beaconsfield Boulevard recreational area, home to a playground, two baseball diamonds, three tennis courts and a ball hockey area.

Benedetti said Christmas Park is the first of several “major parks” in Beaconsfield that will undergo renovations over the next couple of years. “They all are in need of work and since we’re starting to charge user fees for them we should give the people a reasonable park,” he said.

The city aims to correct drainage in the fields, upgrade lighting, replace playground equipment and sand, and resurface courts with asphalt. “For what we do it’s still the most economical (way),” Benedetti said. “We can’t afford the maintenance on a clay (tennis) court, for example.”

Finalized blueprints of the work still have to be ironed out, councillor David Pollock said at the meeting. “I’m still waiting for some answers to questions myself,” Pollock said.

Work is slated to begin in the fall, after the baseball season.