City council has unanimously approved the Parks Master Plan, but not before discussing some of the visionary items they would still like to see.
Some councillors had concerns with a revision around outdoor rinks and artificial ice surfaces, including Councillor Mark King, who would like to see staff collect more information.
“To determine whether or not these outdoor rinks are being used and if in fact they aren’t, certainly the movement of dollars from outdoor rinks to artificial ice may make sense in the long term given the issues around climate change that we’re now seeing,” he says.
Councillor Johanne Brousseau, Chair of Community Services, says she’ll ask staff for a report on rink usage.
Councillor Scott Robertson also talked about outdoor rinks.
“I think it would be normal that we would have more than the provincial average. To be able to trade having much, much more than the provincial average and using extra resources for maybe fewer to do winter grooming of trails, I thought that was a really good part of the plan and I’m disappointed to see it removed,” he says.
However, Robertson, like many other councillors, did say that this is a living document.
He’s glad the plan addresses tennis courts, basketball courts, the skate park issue and he likes the idea of a dog park at Thomson Park.
Another issue brought up by other councillors was the lack of a play structure for kids at the Omischl Sports Complex.
“I wasn’t overly satisfied with the response of saying there wouldn’t be a youth play structure there because somebody could get hit with a foul ball,” says Tanya Vrebosch, Deputy Mayor.
Overall, she says the sports complex in the West Ferris area of the city needs more attention.
“To me Omischl is a gem that’s waiting to happen and we haven’t had the foresight into talking about what that space could be or what it could look like and to me that’s what belongs in a Parks Master Plan,” Vrebosch says.
She echoed other councillors in saying she’s looking forward to the fact that this is a living document.
