During city council's monthly public meeting last week, the members rejected a series of tender bids that were sought for the reconstruction of the soccer field, pathways and landscaping on the eastern side of the park. In the meantime, a new call for tenders has gone out.

Detailed plans for the reconstruction of the fields are posted for public viewing at the eastern and western entrances to the park.

According to Councillor George Bowser, who chairs the commission for public works, a water main located under a pedestrian walkway adjacent to the bike path is in need of repairs, which complicates the situation.

Nonetheless, the City will be going ahead with the soccer field project, "because we talked about it at great length, we listened to what people had to say," added Bowser. "I think the people who will be seeing it on a daily basis will find that it's a good thing."

Bowser said the City is issuing another call to reconstruct the playing fields, based on new specifications. The tenders should come before council for approval at a noon meeting on July 10, so "there will still be time to undertake the work and complete the work before the children are back at Westmount Park School."

Mayor Karin Marks said that concern for safety on the bike path, which extends between Melville Avenue and Academy Road through Westmount Park, has escalated since the City of Montreal embarked on an improvement program of its bike path network, which includes a stretch leading eastward downtown, as well as westward, along de Maisonneuve Boulevard.

She said that when city council saw the playing fields tenders and found they were facing higher-than-anticipated costs, they took a second more serious look at the bike path issue, and decided to deal with the two as specific projects.

"We said maybe it's time for us to look at this as two separate projects, because the bicycle path, as many of you have said and as other people have written, is changing its character," said Marks. "It is changing from a leisure path, which is what it was created for, to a transportation route that goes from downtown Montreal to the west end and back and it goes through our park."

Marks said the City hopes to convince the Agglomeration Council to pay for the work to reconfigure the bike path. "Bicycle paths are a responsibility of the Agglomeration, and our bicycle path really needs to be re-examined, because the City of Montreal has put one coming right up to us on both sides and, therefore has changed its vocation.

"I think it is certainly appropriate for us to find the best way to do it and then to go to the Agglo to ask them to fund it," said Marks. "We contribute a significant amount to the Agglo on a yearly basis, and therefore it would be appropriate for us to get back something in the area that is really their jurisdiction."

However, the reconfiguration won't be done this year and "we will be looking at the whole thing — the whole bicycle path issue comprehensively — what should be done, what makes it safer," added Marks. "We will get some advice from professionals who are involved in designing that kind of thing …

"And we will then consult with people, particularly those who use it, and those who are interested in participating. From the discussions that we had in general committee, I think we are in agreement that we will not be doing it this year and it will be a much more comprehensive study."

Mike Deegan, director of the Westmount Sports and Recreation Department, said the department anticipates the playing fields work hopefully being completed "before we get into the real bad weather in the late fall." According to Deegan, most the department's youth programs requiring access to the playing fields will have been completed by the time the work starts.

"But we will have to go to other areas for our summer camp and for some our activities that are running through the summer," he said. "We'll have to use the main part of the park. Westmount Athletic Grounds and King George Park will still be open, so we'll definitely use those parks if need be."