The MD of Bonnyville wanted input on local recreation, and residents didn’t disappoint.
The municipality hosted an open house at the Bonnyville Centennial Centre on Wednesday, Sept. 12 to ask for feedback on recreational needs in the area.
Director of parks and recreation for the MD, Chris McCord, was pleased with the turnout during the event. She said the responses from attendees were what they were looking for.
“People have been giving very good feedback, and I think it’s a very good opportunity for the two fellows who are heading up the project for us. They’ve said one of the things they’ve heard, because part of the survey we set up was with a lot of user groups and stakeholders, and some of the comments coming back was how nice it is to have a place to voice their opinions and recreation concerns,” she explained.
Local resident Sheri Janz attended the open house to see what others had suggested, while leaving a suggestion of her own for future development.
“My children are involved with 4-H, and we recognize that we need a facility for kids who are involved with agriculture in this region, and that’s not something that’s been addressed,” she said, adding there isn’t a facility where they can showcase the local program.
Along with posters asking residents for their comments, questions, and concerns about recreation in the area, there was a plan for some possible future development.
“A sub component of our project was to develop a site plan, a concept plan, for an outdoor recreation site located on Hwy. 28 and Twp. Rd. 611, kind of across Hwy. 28 from Moose Lake, just outside of town,” noted Stephen Slawuta, a partner with RC Strategies+ Perc, an Edmonton-based recreation planning company. “It’s just a concept plan at this point, council hasn’t made a decision on whether they want to move forward with it or not. The point of showing the concept plan is to show how the site could be laid out, types of components and amenities, and to gather people’s top of mind thoughts and feedback.”
The open house was just one phase of the MD’s recreational needs assessment, along with an online survey that McCord said they’ve had over 600 responses to.
“Not in my time at the MD has anything like this ever happened, a recreational needs assessment. I don’t know if one ever has (been done) or might have been way back,” she detailed. “People are typically passionate about recreation, they either love it or they don’t want to do it. But, they’ll typically have an opinion about it.”
Along with the open houses hosted in Bonnyville and Cold Lake, discussions were held beforehand with local stakeholders and recreation groups to gather more information.
“Recreation is really important to people in the region. Quality of life, and one of the reasons why it’s so attractive to live in, is recreation,” Slawuta said, noting that the area is constantly growing thanks to recreation options.
Once the information is gathered, a plan will be presented to the MD towards the end of September and a full report will be presented by mid-October. It will be used as a planning document for projects and budgeting in the future.
