St. Vincent Park Playground Revitalization

For construction updates please visit St. Vincent Park Playground Revitalization.

Barrie’s St. Vincent Park dates back to the early 1800s, and residents and visitors use the park as a place to gather, play, and rest. Overlooking Kempenfelt Bay and steps from the North Shore Trail, St. Vincent Park is an important neighbourhood and waterfront park located at 65 Blake Street. The park is approximately 2.17 acres (0.88 hectares) and contains mature trees, a newly renovated washroom facility, a large shade shelter, and playground.

St. Vincent Park is currently under review as part of the City of Barrie’s Playground Revitalization Program.

With the Playground Revitalization Program, the City aims to revitalize existing “traditional” play spaces to not only meet the needs and interests of the surrounding communities, but to offer new, vibrant, and engaging experiences for all visitors. The City’s vision is to seamlessly integrate play opportunities within existing City parks to:

• Encourage social, physical, and mental engagement of persons of all ages and abilities (universal design)
• Foster motor, sensory, creative, and social skills
• Provide excitement and challenge
• Connect visitors to the park with year-round access to nature

More information about the current conditions of the park, including images and maps, can be found in the photos and related documents sections located on the right side of this webpage.

Members of the public are invited to:

• participate in online surveys
• join us for a virtual public consultation session on February 17 to learn about what the City has heard from the community, and view the playground concept designs.

Get involved and have your say

The City wants to connect with Barrie residents and visitors to learn about the community’s needs and interests for St. Vincent Park as they relate to the park’s playground and supporting park amenities. We want to hear from you!

Please get involved and provide your insights at two engagement stages:

Stage One: The Ideas Stage (COMPLETED)
What is your vision for the St. Vincent Park playground revitalization? Your ideas and preferences will be used to develop three design concepts.

	Take the survey (COMPLETED)  The City launched a survey (Survey #1 - Vision and Ideas) on January 21, 2022. The survey explored resident preferences, patterns of use, observations and ideas used toward developing three preliminary playground and related park amenities concepts. The survey results were actively monitored for two weeks, following the opening of the survey, to inform the creation of three design concepts for the playground area that were presented for public feedback in a Public Information Centre (PIC) held on February 17, 2022. All feedback from Survey #1 will be reviewed and considered in the preparation of a final preferred design concept. Download the PIC Presentation Slides to see a summary of the Survey #1 findings and the three preliminary design concepts.
	Share your ideas with us online (COMPLETED)  In conjunction with the online Survey #1, residents were invited to share their ideas with the City of Barrie and community! Participants posted ideas, thoughts, images or notes about the park for consideration by the design team using the Ideas tool below.
	Share your ideas with us at the Park (COMPLETED) Visit St. Vincent Park and get inspired! Project information boards were available on-site, as well as an open chalkboard, for you to share your St. Vincent Park playground vision with us. Click here to view the chalkboard contributions.

Stage Two: The Feedback Stage (COMPLETED)
Based on the information gathered from Stage 1, three design concepts were presented at a Public Information Centre (PIC). Tell us what you think about the preliminary design concepts!

Public Information Centre (PIC) on February 17 (COMPLETED) Under COVID-19 protocols, one Zoom-format virtual Public Information Centre (PIC) was held on Thursday, February 17, 2022. Parks Planning staff (with SHIFT Landscape Architecture) provided an overview of the project, findings from the Ideas Stage, presented preliminary park/playground concept designs and answered any questions. Download the PIC Presentation Slides and view the Preliminary Design Concepts from the "Project Documents" section on the right side of this webpage.

Review the design concepts and submit your thoughts (COMPLETED)  Three playground design concepts were presented to the public via Zoom at a Public Information Centre (PIC) held on Thursday February 17th, 2022. Residents were invited to participate in Survey #2 - Design Concepts Feedback to provide feedback on the preliminary design concepts until Sunday February 27, 2022. The collected feedback will be used to inform the creation of a final preferred design concept.