Over the next 10 years, Niagara-on-the-Lake has a plan to make its parks and recreation facilities more accessible, more spacious and better equipped for new activities ranging from disc golf to art parks.
After about a year and a half of work — drawing on resident surveys and input from both town staff and consultants — council reviewed the final draft of the parks and recreation department’s new master plan last week during a special workshop.
The presentation was led by Danielle Lenarcic Biss of thinc design and Mary Catherine Mehak of Kelly and Associates, who began developing the plan in April 2024.
Parks and recreation manager Kevin Turcotte said he was proud of the department’s efforts.
“I think it was a good capture of what the community wants, what council would like to see,” he said. “I’m excited to get working on the implementation plan.”
Marah Minor, the town’s communications co-ordinator, said the consultants cost $90,000, approved in the 2023 budget.
The report outlined both shared and differing priorities between residents and town representatives. Improving indoor recreation spaces was the top priority for both groups: 89 per cent of councillors and staff ranked it as a “high” or “medium” priority, while 71.5 per cent of the 475 survey respondents listed it among their top three concerns.
Their next priorities diverged. Councillors and staff placed accessibility improvements and better connections between sidewalks and trails next on their list, with 77 per cent identifying each as a “medium” or “high” priority.
Survey respondents, meanwhile, cited outdoor infrastructure improvements (44 per cent) and more programs and events (28 per cent) as their next-highest concerns.
Survey data also identified Queen’s Royal Park as the most-used public space, with half of respondents saying they visit it. The Memorial Park Pool followed at 40 per cent, then Simcoe Park and its wading pool at 38.4 per cent.
Population growth and an aging demographic factored heavily into the recommendations. One goal is to expand park space to three hectares per 1,000 residents by 2035, though whether that can be achieved depends on land acquisition.
“There might not be the opportunity to get that much parkland in the next 10 years,” Turcotte said. The plan now says the town will “strive” to reach that target.
He and Biss said the wording in the draft was softened after public feedback.
“We got some feedback on certain items, committing us to certain things where some people were saying might not be possible,” Turcotte said. “So, where it was ‘we must’ the language has changed to ‘strive to.’”
Biss said she hopes to see more intergenerational programs that bring younger and older residents together in parks and recreation spaces.
“It’s really special,” she said. “When it works well, it really is magical.”
Turcotte said the implementation plan will come to council early next year and that nothing is “concrete” until then.
The master plan is the town’s first long-term strategy for building and maintaining parks and recreation facilities. It is intended to guide decision-making for the next decade.
You can read the full master plan at pub-notl.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=43295.
