The tag line for the movie Jaws 2 was, “just when you thought it was safe to get back into the water.”
With a little rejigging, it might be an appropriate line in what could be appropriate in the dispute about recreation funding between the town and county. Except in our case, the line would be “just when you thought it was safe to talk about recreation.”
After years of arguing over how much each of the municipalities should contribute towards recreation, the subject was finally put to rest, thanks to a 10-year binding agreement which was mandated by the province and municipal affairs.
Now the relative calm over recreation funding could be disturbed by the Barrhead Pickleball Club’s request for the town’s help in coming up with a potential location for a new outdoor pickleball facility.
Don’t get us wrong, we are not blaming them. They had every right to make the request, but it is inevitable that whenever someone makes a request that could benefit residents of both municipalities and has a potential cost to attached, that one or more councillors will ask if they have approached the county.
Again, this isn’t necessarily wrong, but given the history between the two councils, we know that this is a potential area of conflict and we for one are enjoying the relative peace.
That being said perhaps it is time to reopen the Pandora’s box and start talking about recreation.
As Coun. Don Smith said last week when the pickleball club made their request there is no shortage of requests for additional recreation facilities. In recent years, various groups have approached town council asking for facilities ranging from a true skatepark to an outdoor volleyball court.
All with limited funding available.
County manager Debbie Oyarzun noted the municipality was in the process of creating a recreational master plan to determine the needs and wants of its residents. We applaud them for this, however, we suggest that the municipalities join forces to create a regional recreation plan to determine the wants and needs of its citizens. Perhaps this could be done in conjunction with or part of the Healthy Communities initiative being headed by Alberta Health Services promoter Terri Flemmer. The purpose of the project is to help develop sustainable community grassroots initiatives to improve the health of the community. Certainly, recreation plays a large role in maintaining people’s health and having an area recreation plan that prioritizes the wants and needs of both municipalities can only help both council’s plan recreational programming in their prospective communities.
Having one overall arching plan would also help the town and county decide what recreation projects they may or may not want to combine their efforts for.
