Hundreds of people have provided input into New Westminster’s new parks and recreation plan – and there’s still time for you to have a say.
The first round of public engagement for the plan, known as People, Parks and Play: Connections for All, began in April.
“The plan is intended to guide future priorities and investments into parks and recreation facilities, services and programs for the next 10 years, as well as describing a vision out to 2050,” said Erika Mashig, the city’s manager of arboriculture, horticulture, parks and open space planning. “So, big ideas for this plan.”
The Phase 1 public engagement process that’s currently underway includes an online survey (open until May 28), seven pop-up events, nine workshops with different interest groups, as well as soup and bannock gatherings with First Nations and local Indigenous organizations.
According to Mashig, 450 people had completed the survey as of April 22. At a May 13 workshop with council, she said staff and consultants leading the engagement process had already heard from at least 800 participants.
Upcoming pop-up events where folks can provide input include the New West Farmers Market on Thursday, June 6 and the New to New West: Intercultural Festival and Information Fair on June 8.
In addition, the city has added some youth-specific engagement events to the process, so it’s able to get feedback from younger residents.
“We're asking the public: how do you see parks and recreation? Think about pools, community centres, playgrounds, small parks, big parks, dog off-leash areas, etc.?” Mashig said. “How satisfied are you with parks and recreation spaces and our available programs? What's working well and what do we need to improve on? Any barriers you're experiencing in accessing our parks and recreation offerings.”
Mashig said the city wants to hear community members’ “big ideas” about future parks and recreation offerings in New Westminster.
City staff are working with B.C.-based consultants Urban Systems and Happy Cities on the new plan.
At the recent workshop with council, consultants led council members through an interactive workshop that sought council’s feedback on strengths and challenges of indoor and outdoor recreation spaces, amenities, and programs. They also sought input on the vision (aspirations to 2050) for indoor and outdoor programs, as well as ideas about specific things that should be implemented in the next 10 years.
Catherine Berris, a landscape architect and community planner with Urban Systems, said New Westminster’s last parks and recreation plan was approved in 2008. She said the city has done a “great job” of accomplishing many of that plan’s recommendations, but the city is welcoming more residents and is seeing a lot more development.
“So, based on that and the other plan being pretty much completed, it's time for this new parks and recreation plan,” she said. “And it is covering everything to do with parks and recreation facilities, programs and services.”
Berris said the plan includes parks, natural areas, trails and paths, as well as recreation facilities and sports complexes, including pools and arenas, recreation programs and drop-in activities.
Positive feedback
According to Berris, the plan will help the city establish priorities and phasing for future planning, capital development and service delivery.
Mitchell Reardon, director of planning with Happy Cities, said the team working on the plan will engage with he community, and then consolidate and review the input it has received and prepare a report for city staff.
“We've heard a lot of positive feedback,” he said. “People are very appreciative of the good things that we have in New West.”
Reardon said “a few of the things that have stood out in terms of areas of improvement” are the need for better connections along the eastern part of New Westminster's waterfront (connections between Sapperton and the downtown), the “geographic spread” of New West (particularly in relation to Queensborough), and the lack of a slide in the new pool at təməsew̓txʷ Aquatic and Community Centre. He said a key issue with Moody Park relates to the concrete slide on the playground, which has been known to ruin pants.
During the two-hour workshop, consultants made note of the dozens of comments put forward by council members. Input from council and community members will help shape the draft plan.
Coun. Daniel Fontaine said the 2008 plan was very in-depth and provide a futuristic look at the city’s needs in terms of parks and recreation infrastructure. He questioned if statistics from that report – such as the number of fields per 1,000 people – have been updated so council can see how today’s parks and rec offerings compare to 2008.
Dean Gibson, the city’s director of parks and recreation, said technical statistics about how things have changed over time is part of the additional work that's happening parallel to this engagement process. He said staff don’t have any statistics to share at this time but would be reporting back to council on an inventory of the city’s various parks and recreation assets.
“We have been discussing … being able to provide a bit of a summary to post on the Be Heard New West site to let the community know, in general, how the trending has been since 2008,” he added. “But where we have hard and fixed numbers that were recommendations from the previous plans – and I need to be very deliberate in the use of that word; the 2008 plan is a series of recommendations, not a series of commitments – we will be able to report back on things like numbers of sports fields, acres of park space, and then those things that are readily quantifiable.”
