ANNEX D
Parks and Sports Fields
The cities consulted were Halifax, London, Thunder Bay, Waterloo, Winnipeg, Quebec City, National Capital Commission and Washington D.C. They were chosen because they best reflected certain aspects of Ottawa; either they were similar in size, climate or national significance. The survey took place in the fall of 2001.
While the survey was designed to expose maintenance practices and regimes, it revealed the fact that most of the cities surveyed had not yet developed written guidelines or service levels. Halifax was the exception and has developed a combination of performance standards and service levels for grass cutting and landscape maintenance. Furthermore, Halifax has developed service levels and maintenance activities for the upkeep of its’ baseball diamonds and sports fields, where maintenance regimes are based on levels of play. The City of Kitchener was in the process of producing such a document, while in other instances service levels existed, but were simply not formalized in a written document. Landscape maintenance standards for rights-of-way have been developed for four of the six Canadian cities surveyed.
All cities surveyed fertilized and aerated turf grass, however, rates and programming varied. Winnipeg aerated on a site-specific basis and Thunder Bay aerated once per season. Quebec City and London limited aeration to sports fields only. Kitchener aerated sports fields and high use parks twice per year and lower use parks once per year. Some cities limited fertilization to only sports fields (Quebec City and London) while others fertilized both. In London, fertilizer application varied and was site-specific, depending on the manager’s determination of need. Regional parks received fertilization once per season in Kitchener, and primary sports fields are fertilized fours times per season and secondary fields twice per year. In Halifax, sports fields and baseball diamonds were classified into categories. Each category then receives service levels specific to that designation. For sports fields, those in category A are fertilized three times per year based on soil testing, and those in category D are fertilized once per year.
Mowing frequencies varied considerably from city to city. London and Winnipeg indicated that they mow every two weeks in parks, with London also using an outcome base criteria of 6 cm. Kitchener and Thunder Bay stated that they mow on either a weekly or monthly basis depending on the location and Quebec specified that they mow lawns in parks weekly. As mentioned, Halifax has designed performance standards for its parks and open spaces. Turf areas are designated into categories that receive either low, medium or high maintenance regimes. For example, formal parks are designated as having a high maintenance regime, which among other things, implies that grass is cut at a frequency that maintains it at a height between 6-7.5 cm. ‘Medium’ designates that grass is cut at a frequency that maintains turf to a height between 6-10 cm”. This includes informal parks, playgrounds, cemeteries, boulevard islands and beach parks. Finally, greenbelts and walkways are designated as having a ‘low’ maintenance standard. Grass in these areas is trimmed once it reaches a maximum of 13 cm.
All cities surveyed have special summer maintenance programs in which sports fields received more attention, or have their own programs (London and Halifax). Kitchener and Quebec City irrigate sports fields, baseball diamonds and high profile parks. London irrigates sports fields and baseball diamonds. Winnipeg and Thunder Bay do not irrigate parks or sports fields. Halifax irrigates sports fields based on their classification and as budgets permit.
Maintenance of annuals occurred on a weekly basis in Winnipeg and Kitchener and across all cities shrub beds received treatment once per year. Kitchener noted that high maintenance shrub beds and perennial beds received attention monthly, while low-maintenance shrub beds and naturalized areas were maintained on an annual basis. As part of their grass-cutting contracts, the City of Halifax has developed service levels and maintenance activities for annual and shrub bed maintenance.
Pruning of plant material was specific to each city. London, Thunder Bay and Winnipeg indicated that they prune each year, while Kitchener and Quebec offered more detailed information as to their pruning practices. Kitchener pruned high-maintenance shrub beds annually.
The cities in the survey had various ways of dealing with graffiti. Winnipeg operates city-wide anti-graffiti patrol and Kitchener has a graffiti reporting hotline and removal programs. Other cities simply power washed or painted over graffiti once it had been reported.
Inspections of play structures varied from city to city. London operates 110 structures that were visited weekly in the summer and monthly in the winter. Kitchener had monthly inspections, Thunder Bay inspected every three to four weeks, and Winnipeg estimated that it inspects play structures every two weeks. Halifax has recently completed a comprehensive inventory of compliance conditions and inspects play structures at least every two weeks.