Workers add solar panels to the renovated clubhouse at West Highlands Park on March 11, 2016.

(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

KAMLOOPS - After more than two years of construction, Aberdeen’s West Highlands Park is nearing completion.

All major projects planned and budgeted for in the park should be finished during this summer, city Capital Projects Manager Darren Crundwell says, though maintenance crews will be working on things a bit longer.

The solar powered clubhouse fell behind schedule after complications with the contractor, but Crundwell says it’s nearing completion.

The city is taking a slower approach to the rest of the park, giving time to coordinate with a developer building homes along the eastern soccer field.

The parking lots will also be finished by this summer, with grading still and gravel still needed to finish them off, he says. There are no plans for paving at this time, according to Crundwell, who notes the budget doesn't include that.

The soccer fields fell behind schedule after drainage concerns in 2013. Crundwell says the turf should be added in the next couple of weeks and opening the fields depends on how well the grass takes hold.

Additional grading and landscaping still needs to be completed around the clubhouse and a couple small structures need to be demolished, Crundwell says, but the contractor working on the clubhouse needs to finish before new contractors start work on the area around the main building. 

Crundwell says there are also no ongoing plans in regards to the path system, though the parks department will likely have some maintenance. While the main path in the park, looping about 1.7 km, is paved and lit, Crundwell says there are no plans right now for additional paving of paths.

As for a community garden or the park’s pond, Crundwell says there aren’t any plans right now. There could be a partnership with a community garden group in the future he says, but there are no plans for this year. The current pond in the park will be maintained for now but nothing will be happening with it tise summer and there are no exact plans as to what to do with it, he says.

Funds were reallocated last September to finish the park and the project remains on budget.

Plans for the park were first discussed in 2007 and went to public consultation in 2011.

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