This video will discuss the key elements of the proposed site plan for Country Hills Park.

This map shows Country Hills Park and its surroundings. Balzer Creek and Country Hills Public School are northwest of the park. Century Hill Drive is south of the park. Country Hill Drive is east of the park. The next slide will show a close-up inside the dotted area of this map.

The existing sports court is in poor condition. We heard from the community that they want to keep space for recreation and play. The existing baseball diamond and surrounding field will remain. There is space for hard-surface sport-court areas in the north west corner of the park.

A stormwater management wetland will be built in the north east corner of the park, where the existing sports court is. Water will enter the wetland on the east, behind the houses on Country Hill Drive. During a rain event, water levels in the wetland will increase, then slowly fall back to the normal water level. An underground outlet from the pond will release the treated water into Balzer Creek. If the maximum water level in the pond is reached, water will spill over the trail and be directed to a swale leading to the creek. This will only happen during very large rain events.

The existing trail will be removed and replaced with a City standard asphalt trail from Country Hill Drive to Balzer Creek. Additionally, the trail will connect the sports area, wetland and other amenities in the park.

A fence is proposed around the lookout to the wetland, shown by an orange line on the figure. A vegetation buffer separates the rest of the pond from the pathways.

Armourstone will provide a seating wall, and will also provide slope support. You can see what armourstone looks like in Photo 10. On the figure it is shown as white rectangles.

There are several new amenities that are proposed. These include:

• The park entrance with signage improvements.
• A traditional playground with wood fiber surface and play structures
• A play area with a natural play structure, stone walls, and a wood fibre surface.
• A gathering node connecting the existing garden to the traditional play area with a concrete surface, picnic tables, game tables, and a shade structure.
• A wetland lookout with an asphalt surface and a post and paddle fence.
• Hard-surface sport-court areas that could include basketball, tennis, pickle-ball or a combination of these.

The next video will talk about the planting plan.