A giant inflatable playground and a water park could reach the Ottawa River on Petrie Island this summer.
Splashifax announced plans to open a giant outdoor water park in the capital this summer, with dates scheduled to be announced “in the coming days.”
“We are pleased to offer licenses to Ottawa City Council, we cannot thank the council and many of the city’s employees who have been working with us in recent months to get to this point,” said Kristina Lemieux, general manager. of Splashifax Waterparks. media release.
Splashifax says it is working with the city to finalize the details, including the exact location, and open this summer.
According to the Splashifax website, the water parks are for adults and children to “immerse themselves in the huge and impressive range of obstacles”.
“Our locations rain or shine and offer slippery, dripping fun with floating inflatables, bounces, slides and our giant Unicorn that makes guests laugh as they fall freely into the refreshing water,” says the Splashifax website. “Live nature and the outdoors, all standing wet at 20 feet above the water.”
The Council approved a motion by the Council. On Wednesday, Matthew Luloff ordered staff to work with Splashifax to negotiate and execute an agreement to establish the water park on Petrie Island Beach.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done on this file before it has the potential to move forward,” Luloff told the council, adding that the water park may not be able to open this summer.
Speaking to CTV News Ottawa, Director General of Recreation, Culture and Facilities Services Don Chenier said the following steps must be completed before Splashifax can be opened:
- Negotiation and termination of an Employment License
- Ensuring the approval of Transport Canada
- Complete the internal circulation of the City to inform the Employment License
- Splashifax recruitment, staff training certification
- Validation of the personnel certificate by the City Council
- Splashifax presentation of a site security plan, traffic management plan and other requirements
“Additional work is also required to complete the consultation with site stakeholders and to determine the market rate assessment that will be applied to the license,” Chenier said.
Splashifax says about 30 jobs will be associated with the water park.