CREMONA - Village of Cremona council may meet with Expedition Management Consulting Ltd. (EMC) officials next month to discuss the contents of the newly-released Mountain View Regional Parks, Recreation and Culture master plan, says Rudy Friesen, the village's chief administrative officer.
The 149-page plan is the result of a year of work by EMC and a steering committee made up of representatives from the village as well as Mountain View County and the towns of Olds, Didsbury, Carstairs and Sundre. The village received its copies of the plan last week, he said.
The plan was prepared using surveys, interviews, and other processes to assess the current state of parks, recreation and cultural infrastructure and community priorities.
It identifies a number of Cremona-specific priorities regarding indoor and outdoor facilities.
The plan recommends that the village work with facility partners to conduct facility condition assessment and a multi-year facility lifecycle plan for a number village facilities.
“There are knowledge gaps in terms of the current condition of several important indoor facilities, including the arena, curling club, community hall, municipal library, and the Gold & Silver Seniors Centre,” the plan states.
“It should be recognized that some of these facilities are not owned and/or operated by the village. However, they all provide services to meet the recreation needs of residents in Cremona and the region.”
The plan recommends that the village work with existing facilities, such as the community hall, to offer regular programs geared for youth.
“A youth centre is a facility gap in Cremona. Given the size of the community and the costs to build and operate a stand-alone facility, it is not recommended that Cremona builds a youth centre. Instead it is recommended that the village work with existing facilities to offer programs geared towards youth.”
The plan calls for the village to participate in the study of a regional multi-purpose leisure centre to explore opportunities to address facility priorities in the community, including an indoor walking track and to explore opportunities to offer walking and other fitness orientated activities in the community hall.
“A walking track was one of the top indoor facility requests from the resident survey.”
The completion of the permanent skate park in the village was also identified as a top priority outdoor facility.
The plan calls for enhanced outdoor festival and event space near the community hall, arena and curling club.
“Enhancements could include providing access to electricity and adding support amenities such as additional RV parking, a stage, benches, tables, garbage cans, etc.”
Another priority identified is the addition of amenities to Nature Trails Park such as seating and lighting.
It is recommended that the village increase facility utilization by collaborating with regional municipalities and user groups to book available spaces in the village.
Indoor recreation facility priorities ranked in the resident survey were running/walking track (31 per cent), youth centre (28 per cent), fitness centre (17 per cent) and aquatic facilities (17 per cent).
Indoor programming rankings were education and skill building (38 per cent), fitness (31 per cent), culture (28 per cent), gyms/courts (24 per cent) and aquatics (24 per cent).
Outdoor facility priorities ranked included spray park (38 per cent), campgrounds (28 per cent) and ball diamonds (17 per cent).
Barriers to participating in village activities identified included lack of facilities, programs not being offered, distance to facilities and programs, and program schedule times.
Other municipalities involved in the master plan project have had presentations from EMC officials in recent weeks.
Implementation of the plan’s recommendations would be up to the individual councils of the participating municipalities.
