City parks in poor condition would cost millions to fix

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This article was published 28/02/2025 (263 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Roughly 12 per cent of the city’s parks and open space assets are nearing the end of their useful life and it would cost $114 million to replace them.

City officials say 59 per cent of park and green space assets are in good or very good condition, 25 per cent are in fair condition and 12 per cent are deemed poor or very poor, with four per cent not yet rated.

“Those assets in poor and very poor condition, that are at or nearing the end of their useful life, are identified as deficiencies in this report,” writes Dave Domke, the city’s manager of parks and open space, in a report released this week.

The ratings assess everything from fences and gates to play structures and swing sets.

For now, the city’s capital budget for parks isn’t set to replace all ailing assets any time soon, which are spread out between nearly 4,000 hectares of local parks and open spaces.

The preliminary estimate of $114 million to replace all poor and very poor assets includes $44.6 million for regional parks and $69.4 million for all other parks and open spaces.

A local green space advocate said she fears a tight budget will prevent the city from keeping all parks assets in the best condition possible and may make staff hesitant to add more.

“Overall, the parks budget has been underfunded for years. It’s also a reason for the parks (department) not to acquire new land because it means that they have to pay for maintenance of that additional land. So it can even be a deterrent for acquiring parks space, even though the city has a (goal) to… acquire 1,000 acres of (new green space),” said Pam Lucenkiw, a member of Outdoor Urban Recreational Spaces — Winnipeg.

Over the past five years, the city has spent between $2.9 million and $8.2 million annually on parks capital costs and between $5.8 million and $10.4 million on urban forestry, the report says.

A total of $26.4 million in capital funding was provided to Assiniboine Park over the five-year period.

Some city councillors have pushed for higher spending over the years, though the budget has often been deemed too low.

“Overall, (many of) the parks are pretty well maintained and they have made a lot of improvements over the years… (such as) adding to the regional parks. But there’s still a long ways to go and the parks budget could use a lot more funding, especially considering how important parks are to the health and well-being of city residents, (as well as) climate change and biodiversity,” said Lucenkiw.

For decades, the city’s parks and open spaces have been “greatly influenced” by population growth, declining resources, an increasing amount of park space and aging infrastructure, the report notes.

About 252 hectares of parkland have been added to the inventory since 2012, Domke wrote.

The Winnipeg Parks Strategy will help prioritize which replacements are needed most.

Coun. Sherri Rollins, a former chairwoman of council’s community services committee, said Winnipeggers frequently reach out to councillors to advocate for neighbourhood parks and request more green space.

Despite that, it’s tough for the city to spend enough money to ensure all assets meet the high standard residents expect, she said.

“Like many areas of public (service) budgeting, we really don’t have (enough) resources to meet demands,” said Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry).

As city council faces massive bills for upcoming projects, including a multi-billion tab to upgrade the north end sewage treatment plant, the councillor said the city can’t afford to increase the parks budget right now.

“It’s not feasible. They have what they have in their four-year budget … We are in a bit of financial trouble on the basics,” said Rollins.

However, she noted many parks already provide great services, citing Crescent Park as a popular example.

Rollins noted the city also offers an “adopt-a-park” program that lets residents volunteer to help with general park upkeep. Volunteers sign up to mow, pick up litter, weed, and rake play structure surfaces, or perform other tasks, the city’s website notes.

“Winnipeggers have a… mechanism (to invest in local parks),” said Rollins.

Coun. Vivian Santos, the current chairwoman of community services, did not respond to a request for comment by deadline Friday.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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