More than ball diamonds: Surerus Park’s turn for upgrades
Last year, the Kin Park upgrades were completed, and this year the City of Fort St. John’s Public Work and Utilities director, Jeremy Garner laid out plans for upgrades to Surerus Park.
Other than the rebuilding of the soccer pitches in 2023 and installation of trail lighting, Surerus Park is in much the same state it was in 1999 when the slow-pitch ball diamonds, playground and tennis courts were installed.
Garner’s presentation to council’s Committee of the Whole on February 24 included improvements to existing infrastructure on the site as well as several new features. The upgrades and additions are planned to take place over the next three years, if approved.
The biggest projects are slated to begin this year, with upgrades to the washroom facilities and pavilion. The washroom building was repurposed after the Centennial RV Park closed in 1997 and installed at Surerus Park in 1999. The building has deteriorated and is no longer serviceable, according to Garner.
Upgrades to the washroom and pavilion include adding storage for soccer and slow-pitch equipment, rental space for birthday parties, ball tournaments and beer gardens, irrigation and mechanical rooms, storage for field maintenance equipment and staff lunchroom and washrooms to support year-round operations.
The playground, which is getting old, will be replaced and have a rubber surface rather than the current sandy surface.
“We would go through our engagement process, looking at the community members in the area that use the playground to do our research on that and make a selection,” said Garner. Ideally, that process and construction will start this year and finish in 2026.
There has already been a lot of feedback about the tennis courts, Garner said, with users requesting windscreens and sunscreens.
“Windscreens would be engineered to withstand our heavy wind times,” he said.
The current parking lot is gravel and requires constant dust control and grading, so that is on the list for paving, lighting and connection to the existing trail network in 2026.
Proposed additions to Surerus Park include a basketball court, a dog park, a hockey rink and pickleball court.
“There really isn’t any place for kids to shoot hoops, other than the new one in Matthew’s Park. There’s a little one at Kearney, but from what I understand that surface isn’t the best,” Garner said. “This would be a great addition to the north part of town.”
There is already an off-leash dog park in town, but like the basketball court, there’s nothing in the north end of town. Bylaw spends a lot of time chasing dogs off the ball diamonds by the college and cleaning up after them.
“So, if we had this dog park in the north, perhaps it would alleviate some of that,” he said.
Councillors Trevor Bolin and Sarah MacDougall felt that the addition of a dog park is a great idea, especially as Bolin put it “they are going all over the ball diamonds right now.”
The optional skating rink would be like the one in Kin Park but wouldn’t have pickleball courts on it. There’s still an appetite for ball hockey and roller hockey in the non-winter months and currently there is no space to do that, other than renting space at the Pomeroy Sports Centre.
However, the optional skating rink would add approximately $20,000 per year of operating costs to build and maintain the ice, over and above the cost of construction.
“I do have a concern about the optional skating rink, and it’s 100 percent just on the cost,” said Mayor Lilia Hansen. “It’s not just the cost to build it, the capital costs, but also the operations costs.”
Bolin said that the public have been asking for a place for ball hockey and noted that the cost is only six percent of the whole project.
“We have these great parks; we have these great programs. The ability to use them at all times of the year, with what people want to see in them is the most important.”
Other members of council also expressed reservations about the costs of putting in a skating rink.
Councillor Gord Klassen felt that it’s important to look at all spending and determine what is really needed.
“Yes, maybe it’s only six percent, but I think we need to be responsible with everything that we’re spending,” he said. “I think it’s important to question what we’re spending, and make sure that we don’t spend more than we need to.”
“Things are getting really tight when it comes to costs,” said Hansen.
“I think that what we’ve done already with the soccer pitches, the trails, the lighting, it’s looking fantastic. We’re going to be putting asphalt in the parking lot, perhaps the hockey rink is something that could be looked at in a staged procession or something maybe later on.”
“If we’re looking at budgets and where money needs to be spent on a nice-to-have, I’d like to put this one on hold.”
Garner pointed out that the cost of construction will go up every year the project is delayed, depending on what happens with the tariff situation.
In his report to council, Garner noted that the additional amenities, beyond the upgrades to extend the life of the existing infrastructure were optional.
“It’s helpful for us to hear council’s feedback on all of these various aspects of the project, just so we can bring back something that’s scoped to kind of take that feedback into account,” said Chief Administrative Officer, Milo MacDonald.
“Obviously there will be options at the point where you’re voting it into a capital budget or subsequent capital budgets, so there’ll be lots of opportunity to continue discussions about what sorts of amenities the park should have.”