John Devoldere Memorial Park is the official name for the community park located north of 80 Avenue and east of 167 Street.  Named in 1996, John Devoldere was a Edmonton fire fighter for 35 years until his retirement in 1985. Mr. Decoder was a resident of Elmwood Community for 33 years and was involved in a wide variety of volunteer activities including scouts, little league (president of Jasper Place Little League for 6 years) and general community activity.

In recognition of his contributions to the community, Mr. Devoldere was the first person to receive an honorary lifetime Elmwood Community League Membership.

The Park Re-Development Committee was created in May, 2008 at the request of the newly elected Community League board to undertake the task of developing a needs assessment study to assess the communities desire to renovate and re-develop the John Devoldere Memorial Park.  A call for committee participation was sent out to the community as part of the May 2008 Community League monthly newsletter.  The first meeting was held May 14th.

With the help of Kim Truscott, our Community Recreation Coordinator (the City of Edmonton), we have began the process of understanding what a Needs Assessment Study is and what the process is to upgrade our parks area is.

The Committee has identified three primary areas and are now undertaking a needs assessment study in the following areas:

1) Splash Park Re-Design

Due to recent regulatory changes, the City of Edmonton is requiring us to dismantle our spray deck.  The city is making up to $184,000 available to us for a re-development and there are additional provincial and federal grants available to us as well.  We are initially projecting that a new splash park will cost upwards to $400,000 to develop.

We are asking our community members and the patrons of the park to provide input into what they would like to see in this new development.  Do you have pictures of splash parks you have visited in other cities etc?  Please let us know.

2) Playground Upgrades

Our existing part was developed over 30 years ago and is in need of replacement.  The city is also making up to $60,000 available to us and there may be up to an additional $125,000 (matching grant) from the gov't.  We are also planning on taking advantage of some of the additional grants available to us.  We are initially projecting that this upgrade will cost upwards to $400,000 to develop.

We are asking our community members and the patrons of the part to provide input into what playground apparatus you would like to see in the new playground.  Please let us know.

3) Picnic Area Development

Our existing picnic area consists of 1 picnic bench.  We are looking at installing upwards to 12 additional picnic benches, an outdoor BBQ hut and dozens of mature trees.  Including the possible construction of a toboggan hill and repairs to the ice-rinks, we are initially projecting that this development will cost upwards to $150,000 to develop.  What else would you like to see?

The first step in the process of re-developing the John Devoldere Memorial Park is successfully serving the Needs Assessment Survey.  We cannot move forwards until we have received 300 surveys (30% of the homes in our community.)  The survey will be distributed to each home in the community as part of the June 2008 Community League Newsletter. 

Please fill out your survey and return it to the community Hall ASAP.

- or -

Complete the Survey OnLine Now