Rec Needs Survey Complete

The M.D.’s survey meant to find the gaps in recreation in the area is over.

Now, they will dig into the responses and review the comments from the Open Houses to make a plan going forward.

“That information will ultimately provide the M.D. with a resource to refer back to when making decisions on how to spend their money in the future on different recreation related projects,” said Stephen Slawuta, RC Strategies + Perc.

His company, RC Strategies, was also tasked with creating an early vision for an outdoor recreation site across Highway 28 from Moose Lake.

The site design has six ball diamonds, four rectangular sport fields, an outdoor rink, pickleball courts, walking trails, and common areas like a playground, a concession stand, and camping stalls.

The vision was meant to appeal to many ages and interests.

Slawuta cautions that the mock-up is in the very early stages, and the engagement from residents will decide what it looks like when it happens.

“What we really wanted to do with this is just show a lot of flexibility. There’s a number of areas here that could work for future expansion. This could be a phased development potentially, so having some extra flexibility after phase one is determined. We could use another rectangular field or two, or we could use another ball diamond, or more pickleball courts or whatever.”

The Town of Bonnyville asked people what they wanted for recreation in the area back in May when applying for the ICIP grant, which the Town will no longer pursue. Over 1,300 people responded, and over half said they wanted a new pool, with a fine arts theatre second, and C2 expansion third.

“We’ve heard a lot about the pool just in our discussions, and like I said, we haven’t really dug into the results yet, but pool is one of the things we did ask about. Part of the work here too is if an aquatics facility gets done, there’s probably going to be some partnership discussions between the municipalities here.”

Last week, the M.D. had 650 responses to the survey.