MD of Bonnyville residents will have the opportunity to voice their opinion on recreation in the area.
Starting Aug. 10, the municipality will be conducting a survey as part of their recreation needs assessment to get a better idea of what direction they should take moving forward.
“We want to encourage the utmost participation. The MD covers a huge area, and the residents all use the facilities in different municipalities – the town, the city, or the village. We want to know who is using those, what they’re using, and then what their wants or needs are for the future,” said Reeve Greg Sawchuk.
Postcards will be sent out to residents directing them to an online survey on the MD of Bonnyville’s website. There will also be a hard copy version available for pick-up at the MD’s main office, parks, and transportation and utilities offices.
“It’s going to ask about recreation participation. Basically, what MD residents like to do, both indoor and outdoor activities, how important those activities are to their quality of life, the main reasons why they’re involved, and their level of satisfaction with the current recreation facilities,” explained director of parks, recreation, and culture Chris McCord.
Residents will have about a month to complete the survey, following which the municipality will be hosting open houses for the public to have further discussions. The first will take place in Cold Lake on Sept. 11, with the location yet to be confirmed. The second open house will be in Bonnyville on Sept. 12 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Centennial Centre.
The open houses will be a come and go format, with McCord and representatives from the company doing the assessment, RC Strategies, on-hand to answer any questions.
“Recreation is important to this council,” Sawchuk expressed. “We’ve had a number of ideas come forward. We want to actually find out what the public is interested in. It’s one thing to have your own ideas, but I think it’s important – and our council has made this a priority – to get out there, engage, and get feedback from all of our residents.”
At their July 25 meeting, MD council approved a budget increase of $10,000 for RC Strategies, for a total budget of $40,000. The additional funds will allow the group to create a concept plan of an outdoor recreational area.
“It’s just another one of those ideas that’s been thrown out there. A multi-purpose park that would encompass fields, camping, maybe outdoor swimming,” explained Sawchuk.
The concept plan, along with proposed capital costs, will be available for residents to view at the open houses in the September.
“It will give us some good information that we can present at the open houses,” noted Coun. Marc Jubinville.
Once the information has been gathered from the survey and open houses, it will help council decide on where the budget should be spent when it comes to recreation. However, Sawchuk noted, if they choose to move forward with any recreation projects it will take some time.
“Once all of this comes back in, we go into the early stages of budget deliberations. For a lot of these projects, they’re pretty big and require a comprehensive plan and some engineering before they would even go out to tender. We would be looking at next summer before anything as far as ground would even be broken.”
McCord encouraged all residents to take advantage of the survey and open houses, and take the time to let the MD know what they’d like to see when it comes to recreation.
“Maybe we have enough, maybe we’re missing something that they want to see. This is definitely residents’ opportunity to voice if they’re happy with the current recreation and what they’d like to see for future recreation development.”
