In 2020, the Town of Innisfil replaced the stairs connecting Simcoe Boulevard and Adams Road in Alcona with a completely accessible pedestrian ramp.
The town then went one step further, commissioning well-known muralist David Anthony to create a graffiti-style mural, celebrating inclusion, accessibility and active transportation on the long retaining wall beside the ramp.
The bright and colourful images include people of all ages, colour, and all levels of mobility, active in the community.
As Capital Team Leader Hyder Rajab noted, “In collaboration with the Innisfil Accessibility Advisory Committee, the Town of Innisfil designed the Adams Road ramp with a vision of accessibility for all. The ramp is extensively used by cyclists, parents with strollers, skateboarders and folks with a variety of mobility abilities, including those using scooters and wheelchairs.”
Rajab added, “In late 2020, the town started planning for the installation of a mural on the concrete walls of the ramp, to complement the project and reflect the diversity we see in our community.”
Sadly, the mural, completed by November 2021, is not surviving Innisfil’s wintry weather, and the cycles of freeze and thaw close to Lake Simcoe. Residents in the area have noticed that the paint has already begun to flake and peel off the concrete.
There have also been questions as to the cost - and why a local artist wasn’t retained to design and paint the mural.
The artist was sourced by the town’s engineering department, working under the constraints of the ongoing COVID pandemic.
“Efforts were made to find a local artist, but Toronto-based artist David Anthony was ultimately selected based on the style of art and his vast experience painting murals on large-scale canvases,” Rajab explained, but he and the town have both acknowledged that the selection process could have been improved, to give greater opportunities for local involvement.
“The Adams Road ramp is a great example of how to embed art and culture into public spaces, but admittedly there was a missed opportunity for engagement with the local arts community,” said Susan Baues, deputy chief librarian with the Innisfil ideaLAB & Library.
Over the past several months, town and library staff have worked to enact key strategies outlined in the town’s new Culture Master Plan.
“An exciting example is a one-of-a-kind, community-inspired public art project launching this winter. The community will see 8-10 ice fishing huts transformed by local artists into attractive, engaging and thought-provoking art displays,” Baues said.
“With input from our community partners, staff have been developing criteria and review processes that embrace culture and diversity. These processes will pave the way for embedding culture and engaging local artists in future opportunities throughout Innisfil,” she added.
The need for the ramp itself was flagged by the Innisfil Accessibility Advisory Committee (IAAC), back in 2015. At a Town Hall meeting, the committee heard from residents who found the aging stairs a barrier to use, and a potential safety hazard.
After determining that the use of the stairs between the two roads averaged 116 persons per day, the town included $345,000 in its 2017-2018 capital budget for the construction of a ramp, under its Trails Master Plan initiatives, to improve connections for ‘active transportation.’
But issues with the site, and the discovery of “a number of unanticipated challenges” requiring additional design work not only delayed the award of the tender to 2020 but bumped up the cost.
Initial neighbourhood concerns led to a need for more public meetings, and agreement to monitor vibration during construction.
A gas line had to be relocated, but the existing municipally-owned road right-of-way was too narrow in the area of the proposed ramp – leading to the purchase of a two-metre strip of land from an adjacent landowner before the line could be relocated.
The decision was also made, due to a lack of snow storage in the area and the difficulty of keeping the ramp clear of ice in winter, to install an in-ground heating system – adding another $32,524 to the bill.
With increased administration, staff and construction inspection costs, the final budget – after the tender of low-bidder Buildscapes Construction Limited was accepted – came to over $535,000, including $128,000 in pre-construction costs, with the overage to come from Capital Reserves.
The mural itself was funded not by the project budget or the IAAC, but from the town’s Bicentennial budget, in keeping with a goal “to catalyze community connection and enrich the built environment.”
The town has now contacted the artist regarding repairs to the mural, hoping that it can be fixed and sealed for the winter.
