We have heard today about the important benefits of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Some time ago, as part of our planning for the 100th Anniversary of the Rotary Club of Belleville, the committee included the concept of a Rotary Fitness Park as a gift to the people of the City of Bellefille as part of the approved $100,000 for 100 Years of Service commitment. Following a review of three options, the Committee agreed to recommend the OpenSpace solution for approval to the Rotary Board. Some of the benefits of a Rotary Fitness Park are it gives communities the opportunity to get healthy and maintain active lifestyle while enjoying the outdoors and provides a full body, outdoor fitness gym to help people meet with physical goals. The equipment needs to be durable to withstand the harshest environments while being used in an unsupervised park environment. The OpenSpace concept includes eight stations featuring the walker, pendulum, recumbent bike, step up, flex wheel/twister, leg lift/body lift, double sit up and leg press/balancer. The equipment is manufactured in Canada. Each piece could be considered inclusive accessible, dependant on the physical limitations of the individual. One consideration for those confined to a wheelchair would be the lowering of the Body Lift Bar to chair height. It could then be used as a pull up station for both able bodied and those physically challenged. Stations are designed to withstand year round, outdoor weather, are slip resistant and all edges are rounded for safety.
The preferred location would be just east of the existing play park on Keegan Parkway (just south of the hospital). It is a small, but well used play park that is located in close proximity to the road and the very busy Waterfront Trail. It should be noted that this area did not flood during last year's spring runoff and the children's area remained open and accessible. In discussing pricing with OpenSpace, this order could be placed this calendar year and confirmed at $32,950.80 including freight and HST. This would allow the committee the opportunity to present the plan to the City of Belleville, having a report prepared supporting the project and a presentation to City Council for final approval prior to confirmation of the order. This cost and that of the Rotary Music Garden with signage are within the $100,000 budget set for the 100th Anniversary Year and community projects.