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Photo Rosemary McConkey
Oshawa is spending $115,000 on a new gazebo in Lakeview Park despite some public grumbling that the price tag is too high for the mostly wood structure.
The gazebo now in place on the pathway, west of the Oshawa Museum, has had some minor repairs over the years but a recent inspection by works staff discovered the footings supporting the structure “are no longer repairable and have led to unsafe conditions.”
The gazebo is now closed to the public.
The $115,000 cost includes the demolition of the existing structure and design, engineering and construction of the new gazebo.
Councillor Rosemary McConkey has no issues with replacing the structure (provided the magnolia trees now in bloom flanking the gazebo were not damaged) but questions the high cost of the re-build. “It seems like a lot of money for a gazebo,” she said at Monday’s Corporate and Finance Services Committee meeting, where the funds were approved, pending Council’s final okay.
Some of her followers on social media agreed. “It does not cost $115,000 to tear down and rebuild a gazebo. Maybe about 1/10 of the cost,” was one comment. “Rebuild it for $115.000? Are you kidding? It’s a gazebo … framed in a day … and the roof done in half that time,” was another.
Councillor Bradley Marks, however, said he trusted staff to make the correct call and called for immediate construction once final approval is given. “We maintain professionals to assess these kinds of situations.”
The $115,000 cost can’t be accommodated in the Parks Operating Budget so Council will be asked to fund the project through Operations Reserve.
insauga’s Editorial Standards and Policies
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