Giant inflatable waterpark coming to Ottawa's Petrie Island

Splashifax has announced plans to set up a giant inflatable waterpark at Petrie Island in Ottawa. (Photo courtesy: Facebook/Splashifax)

A giant inflatable playground and waterpark could be coming to the Ottawa River at Petrie Island this summer.

Splashifax announced plans to open a giant outdoor waterpark in the capital this summer, with dates expected to be announced "in the coming days."

"We are happy to be licensing space from the City of Ottawa, we can’t thank enough the council and many city staffers who have been working with us these past months to get to this point," Splashifax Waterparks CEO Kristina Lemieux said in a media release.

Splashifax says it is working with the city to finalize details, including the exact location, and open this summer.

According to Splashifax's website, the waterparks are for adults and kids to "immerse themselves in the ginormous, impressive span of obstacles."

"Our locations run rain or shine and offer slippy, drippy fun with floating inflatables, bouncies, slides, and our re-donk-ulous giant Unicorn who gets guests laughing as they free-fall into refreshing water," Splashifax's website says. "Experience nature and the great outdoors, all while standing soaking wet 20 feet above the water."

Council approved a motion from Coun. Matthew Luloff on Wednesday, directing staff to work with Splashifax to negotiate and execute an agreement to set up the waterpark at Petrie Island Beach.

"There is still quite a bit of work to be done on this file before it has the potential to move forward," Luloff told council, adding the waterpark may not be able to open this summer.

In a statement to CTV News Ottawa, Recreation, Cultural and Facility Services general manager Don Chenier said the following steps must be completed before Splashifax can open:

• Negotiating and finalizing a License of Occupation
• Securing Transport Canada approval
• Completing the internal City circulation to inform the License of Occupation
• Splashifax recruitment, training certification of staff
• Validation of staff certification by the City
• Splashifax submission of a site safety plan, traffic management plan and other requirements

"Additional work is also required to complete consultation with site stakeholders and to determine the market rate assessment to be applied to the license," Chenier said.

Splashifax says approximately 30 jobs will be associated with the waterpark.