By Grant Warkentin
They will build it, and they will come – local slo-pitch players can start looking forward to a new home at a completely-rebuilt Nunns Creek Park.
This morning council approved awarding a nearly $6.9 million contract to Upland Contracting Ltd. to turn the park into a slo-pitch hub for the entire community.
“I’m super happy that a local contractor won the award,” said Mayor Kermit Dahl. “That will secure local jobs for Campbell River residents.”
He pointed out that a local contractor will have a strong motivation to do a good job; they will want to enjoy the facility once it’s finished and will also want to maintain a good reputation.
It also helped that Upland’s proposed costs were more than a million dollars lower than the next closest bidder.
Reviving a community jewel
The city has been working since last year to modernize Nunns Creek Park, to suit changing community needs. Minor baseball pulled out of the park in 2021, after the fields, skate park, logger sports grounds and neighbouring forest turned into a large, unofficial homeless camp and hangout during the pandemic. Their ongoing presence came complete with open hard drug use, crime, and ongoing safety issues for young players trying to use the fields.
Field users wrote letters to the city detailing hair-raising encounters with addicts during games, dugouts filled with trash and drug paraphernalia, threats of violence on the fields towards parents and youth, and having to sweep fields for needles prior to every practice. As a result, the city approved minor baseball moving to Willow Point Park, and slo-pitch, which mostly consists of adults, moving to Nunns Creek Park.
Since last year the city has been clearing the park, removing all the old structures to make way for the new design, and now that a contractor has been selected, it can get started as soon as possible.
“The proposed enhancements will establish Nunns Creek Park as the primary home for slo-pitch in Campbell River while allowing Campbell River Minor Baseball to establish a dedicated home base at Willow Point Park,” says a report to council.
Costs mostly covered by grants
The final park designs were completed in May 2025. Washrooms and a concession building were removed from the project scope “to allow the redevelopment to proceed while alternative and more cost-effective design options are explored.”
Revised concepts for new washrooms and concession will be presented to council at a later date.
The entire park revitalization project will cost $8.57 million. Most of the funding will come from external grant programs – approximately $6.4 million will be covered by the provincial Growing Communities Fund, and $1.6 million will come from the Build Communities Strong Fund. The remaining costs will be funded through internal reserves, which city staff say will be replenished next year. Accessing unused reserves now will allow the project to go ahead immediately.
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