The awarding of a contract to do the town's Open Space and Trails Master Plan has been deferred by council until the next council meeting on April 23.
Council was to award the contract at its last meeting on April 10, but several councillors had reservations about going ahead until they had all the answers to questions raised at the council meeting about the process and the objectives of the plan.
Coun. Wade Bearchell wanted to know what was included in the $70,000-plus budget and if it would be possible to do the work in-house.
“I'd like to know more (about) what's in this $70,000 budget. I would like to see a … breakdown of what that money is. Is it realistic to do this in-house without spending this kind of money?” he asked.
Norm McInnis, the town's chief administrative officer, said in order to complete the plan, more expertise is needed than what the town has available.
Coun. Harvey Walsh said he would like to see more public consultation on the issue as the process moves forward.
There is more public consultation on the plan provided for as the process moves along, Barbara Hill, the town's director of community services said, including an Internet-based survey. The town has a contingency of up to $30,000 for more consultation if it's deemed more is needed as time goes on.
“The plan that the consultant has does have some public engagement as part of it. We reserved some extra dollars in case we feel there's a need to do more than was called for in the original plan,” she said.
The plan will act as a guide to developing policy around a classification system for open spaces and trails, provision and maintenance standards for those spaces and linked and integrated trail and park systems. The plan will also make recommendations for design standards, urban forest development and the stewardship of natural areas now and into the future.
“This is … taking a look at how we build an open space system … that will help us accommodate needs of the community as it grows,” Hill said.
The plan will be worked on once council approves it. Administration hopes the plan will be completed by the end of the year.
"This is ... taking a look at how we build an open space system ... that will help us accommodate needs of the community as it grows."Barbara Hill, director of community services, Town of Olds
