WESTLOCK — The Town of Westlock is working on a recreation master plan to help meet the community’s long-term parks and recreation needs.
To achieve that they are looking for input from residents and facility users via message boards which were posted between early June to mid-July, while the remaining surveys will wrap July 30.
The plan is a strategic document that will guide the development, delivery and improvement of parks and recreation programs, services, and facilities in the town for the next 20 years and was included in the 2023-2028 capital budget, which is allocating $80,000 for the project this year, including the public input portion.
“This (master plan) is going to help decide what we need to maintain, where we need to budget for improvements and areas the Town of Westlock should be improving,” said executive assistant to community services and operations directors Carmen Clark.
Questions asked on message boards included; “what are your favourite parks and recreation activities to do in Westlock?” and “why are parks and recreation services important to you?”
Director of community services Gerry Murphy said the results and feedback will play an important role to develop the plan, which is a first for the municipality.
In addition to message boards, the town also conducted a survey to gather feedback from local residents as well as out of town users and various groups.
“All Westlock residents were mailed out a postcard and it had an access code and we invited them to complete the survey with their access code. We also wanted to capture anyone else, like county residents or people outside of the Town of Westlock, that use our facilities and who wanted to provide input,” said Clark.
The open and coded surveys asked area residents 23 questions in 11 sections ranging from current usage and visitation to services assessment, programming, prioritization criteria, values and considerations, future priorities and focus areas. The group survey asks 19 questions in six sections about utilization, barriers to participation, assessment, future priorities and focus areas and about the organization itself.
“I think the residents of Westlock want to voice their opinions and I’m happy that we were able to capture quite a few responses, especially at the Aquatic Centre,” said Clark, noting feedback from school groups. “We got in there before school ended so it was good to see some of the responses.”
Clark noted some of the feedback received so far, whether it’s using the Rotary Trail or the pooll indicates the facilities are well-used and appreciated.
“We want to hear about what people want to see for the future of recreation (in Westlock),” she said.
The next phase of input will be held in August, said Clark, and will include in-person meetings with stakeholders and community contributors.
Clark noted Phase 1 of the recreation master plan is the public input portion that’s currently underway while Phase 2 will begin later this fall and involves a review of the draft plan after it is presented to the community. It will then go before Town of Westlock councillors where they will provide further input before a final version is created.
