City staff looking for solutions to reopen contentious Mooney's Bay sledding hill
City of Ottawa staff are looking ahead to next season’s snowfall and what to do about the toboggan hill at Mooney’s Bay.
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This week, a report will be presented to the city's community services committee recommending $250,000 for additional analysis on changes to the hill to make it safer.
It’s been a contentious discussion for years following the tragic death of a child while sledding on the toboggan hill in late 2021.
Since then, the hill has remained closed, but one year after the tragic incident, Ottawa city councillor Riley Brockington brought forward a motion asking staff to modify the hill to allow it to reopen for tobogganing.
The results of that report go to a committee this upcoming week.
"This is probably the most visited park in the city of Ottawa and people want to continue to use this for tobogganing," said Coun. Riley Brockington.
"That's why I've been engaged with the city for a number of years on using some professional help and expertise on how to keep this hill open and if physical modifications need to be made in order to make it a safer place to toboggan."
The site officially closed to sledding in 2017 following reports of injuries and collisions, but the 2021 tragedy put pressure on the city to implement temporary measures to increase enforcement and signage preventing the hill from being used.
"The family was quite clear to me that they wanted to see tobogganing continue here at the site, that they did not want this hill closed," said Brockington.
“The onus is on the city is to keep this park as safe as possible. And if there are some modifications that we can make to this hill that would make this a sanctioned site for tobogganing, that is my focus to keep this open four seasons a year."
That report is going to a city committee on Tuesday. As of right now, it’s not clear when the city could see a final decision on whether the hill will officially reopen.
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