KITCHENER — It will cost $2.6 million to rehabilitate and upgrade the Great Lawn at McLennan Park, which was damaged three years ago after problems with methane gas from the former landfill on which the park is built.

The rehabilitation, which will include the creation of new trails and the installation of a shade structure, is costing more than city officials had budgeted, so city staff are proposing that almost $500,000 for the project be drawn from funds earmarked for trails and tree planting.

The 39-hectare park was a landfill from 1958 to 1976 and the land is still owned by the Region of Waterloo. Under the lease with the region, the region is responsible for underground landfill operations, and the City of Kitchener is responsible for above-ground park uses and care.

The Great Lawn, a broad five-hectare swath of open space next to the main park amenities, has been covered in wood chips for the past three years.

In June 2014, in advance of the Big Music Fest outdoor concert, staff were testing the soil in the Great Lawn to make sure the field could support a large outdoor stage for the festival.

They discovered dangerous levels of methane building up in drainage pipes under the sod in the park. Just days before the festival, the pipes were ripped out and mulch was spread over, since there wasn't enough time to resod before the concert.

Parks officials initially said the wood chips would be gone by 2015. But planning for the work ended up taking longer than expected, because the project is a complex one, combining park use and landfill control measures, and because it's a joint project between the region and the city, said Denise McGoldrick, Kitchener's director of operations for environmental services.

The region will pay just over $1 million for work associated with the old landfill, including restoring the landfill's clay cap, while the city is paying for above-ground work, such as park amenities, tree planting, turf, irrigation and drainage.

The city had set aside almost $1.1 million for the project, but the total cost for the city's portion adds up to almost $1.6 million. The shortfall will be funded out of the city's capital funds for trails and tree planting.

The project is not as simple as just getting rid of the wood chips and reseeding the lawn, McGoldrick said. The area needs to drain properly, since it sits atop the clay cap that stops the landfill from leaching. Right now, there's a relatively shallow layer of topsoil over the cap; the design includes building up berms so there's enough soil to plant trees.

"A consistent comment that we receive is about the lack of shade," McGoldrick said. The project includes the planting of about 100 trees, as well as a shade structure, similar to a picnic shelter, so that people can be out of the sun, particularly when they're using the splash pad.

Parks staff are recommending that the final project include a walkway around the Great Lawn and the shade structure, since doing everything at once will be less disruptive for park users and is less expensive than doing that work later as a separate project.

The work is scheduled to run from June until November; it will close part of the park, including the entrance off Block Line Road, the splash pad, a part of the playground with a sand dig area and bucket swing, beach volleyball courts, the large gazebo and the gazebo trail.

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The dog park, bike park, skateboard park, basketball courts, washrooms and the bulk of the playground that includes the play structures will remain open during the project.

City councillors will consider the proposed project at a community and infrastructure services committee on Monday.