Whooping Crane Park

The City is looking for your help to design a new park in Riverside South. Whooping Crane Park is a proposed 1.2-hectare park located on the north side of Whooping Crane Ridge between Canvasback Ridge and Spratt Road. To the north of the park is a woodlot that has been purchased by the City. The park’s municipal address is 71 Whooping Crane Ridge. Proposed park amenities include a playground, a wooded area, pathways, site furnishings and landscaping.

The City is conducting a two-step public consultation process for the park design. For the first step, we are requesting the public’s input to choose a style for the playground equipment. Two style options are proposed: a “Traditional Nature Theme” and a “Modern Nature Theme”. You can find a preliminary park concept plan and representative playground equipment images for each style option in the Document Library to the right.

Take the survey below to tell us your preference for one of the playground equipment style options. After the preferred style option has been selected, the Landscape Architect will prepare a final concept plan with a playground design. The final concept plan and images of the proposed playground equipment will then be posted on Engage Ottawa for the second step in the public consultation process.

Final Concept Plan

A final concept plan has been prepared for Whooping Crane Park based on the Traditional Nature Theme that was preferred by most residents. You can access the final concept plan and images of the proposed playground equipment in the Document Library on the right side of the page. The final concept plan also shows the location of a potential shade structure near the playground area. Please note that the ability to proceed with the construction of the shade structure is conditional on the tender results and the ability to accommodate it within the project budget.

Please provide comments on the final concept plan to Burl.Walker@ottawa.ca by September 10, 2021.

What We Heard

A public consultation for Whooping Crane Park was held from April 8 to 23, 2021. Thank you to everyone that provided their input on the play equipment style options for the park. 68 submissions were received from the online survey.

The project team will be proceeding to develop a final concept plan with a playground design based on the Traditional Nature Theme, which was preferred by most residents.

Additional comments received are summarized as follows:

• Requests for additional amenities including a splash pad, tennis courts, half-court basketball, a shade shelter, a skateboard park or BMX park, outdoor fitness equipment and a pond
• Consideration to provide a rubberized surfacing material for the playground
• Request for a more natural playground
• Request for a playground that is accessible for children with disabilities

The team will review the possibility of adding a shade shelter conditional on the tender results and the ability to accommodate it within the project budget.

A number of the requested amenities are proposed to be provided at Atrium Park, located 500m west of Whooping Crane Park. The proposed amenities at Atrium Park include an outdoor fitness equipment area, splash pad, double pickleball courts and full-court basketball. BenchFit signage is being considered for Whooping Crane Park to encourage the use of park benches for fitness exercises. Existing tennis courts are available at Summerhill Park to serve this area and a district skateboard park is planned to be developed in the future at the Riverside South Core District Park.

With respect to the request for a pond, please note that stormwater management ponds are located on separate land from new park blocks. A pond is not proposed adjacent to Whooping Crane Park. The subdivision is serviced by the Riverside South Stormwater Management Pond 5 located adjacent to the Rideau River.

The playground will be designed and constructed to comply with the CSA standards for children’s playgrounds and equipment that are accessible to persons with disabilities. Engineered wood fibre is proposed to be used for the accessible safety surfacing material; rubberized surfacing cannot be afforded within the park development budget.

In response to the request for a natural playground, the City’s parks operations staff prefer the installation of playground equipment with plastic and metal materials rather than wood to reduce maintenance requirements. A nature theme is proposed for the playground equipment. Wood elements including log posts at the sand play area and a rumble bridge at the playground pathway loop are proposed to complement the nature theme.