OLDS — There’s a concern that the town may not have enough areas for seniors and youth to gather and participate in recreational and cultural activities, according to community services director Doug Wagstaff.
Wagstaff made that comment as town council received the Mountain View Regional Parks, Recreation and Culture Master Plan, presented by Justin Rousseau, managing director of Expedition Management Consulting Ltd., late last month.
“I do know from this engagement that we did hear a lot of comment about youth and seniors and whether there were areas for them to congregate and participate in sport recreation as well as cultural recreation,” Wagstaff said.
Rousseau said in the case of youth, they’re looking for lots of indoor and outdoor facilities where sports like basketball or volleyball could be played on a drop-in basis.
"I mean, you do have strong participation in your youth sports. But there also is a growing demand for drop-in, spontaneous youth activities,” Rousseau said. “And that doesn’t necessarily mean less facilities. It just might mean different programming of facilities.
“So sometimes you’ll see various facilities that are almost exclusively programmed by user groups for example, and very little opportunity for drop-in public use, unstructured youth use and all of that.
“So that’s where I think communities can really benefit from keeping an eye on that trend and saying it doesn’t all have to be structured. It can be drop-ins, it can be families coming and enjoying the facilities but not having to be part of an organized group."
