Of the people who provided feedback during recent public engagement on the town's proposed Vision 2030, most are supportive of the plan. Council was presented with a report on the matter during its Jan. 18 meeting.
Of the people who provided feedback during recent public engagement on the town's proposed Vision 2030, most are supportive of the plan.
Council was presented with a report on the matter during its Jan. 18 meeting.
Administrator Dave Dubauskas praised Angie Lucas, director of planning and operational services, for efforts made to consult with the public, which he said validates what council and administration think is the right way to proceed.
"What this does is it gives reassurance to this council that what they think might be a good idea is in fact probably a good idea based on feedback from residents and businesses," he said about the report based on public consultation before opening the floor to Jon Allan, economic development officer.
As background, Allan told council public feedback sessions were held with the general public on Nov. 18, on Dec. 9 with the Sundre and District Chamber of Commerce and another on Dec. 16 with town staff. There was also an online survey that was made available from Nov. 4 to Dec. 6 as well as email comments submitted.
He also reiterated the vision plan, which is for Sundre to "be the top regional destination for culture, recreational activities, events and conferences" by the year 2030.
"We received 66 online responses," he said, adding there were a variety of questions asked in the survey, the first of which was whether the respondent agreed with the proposed strategic economic development vision.
The percentage of people who responded 'yes' was 75.8 per cent, the percentage who responded 'no' was 4.5 per cent, and a few people didn't know, he said.
"But we got a really good response rate for the 'yes'."
The next question was whether people agreed that culture should be a strategic focus of the vision, which ended up with similar results to the first question with 75.4 per cent saying 'yes'. About 10 per cent said no.
"But still overwhelming support," said Allan.
However, the recreational component was nearly unanimous, he said, adding 97 per cent of the respondents agreed that recreational activities should be a strategic focus of the vision.
There was also strong support to make events a focus of the vision as well, with about 83 per cent in favour. As for whether conferences should be a focus, a small but clear majority of almost 58 per cent supported it, he said.
One of the emails submitted expressed concerns about making conferences a priority since Sundre might not be in a position to properly accommodate them, he said.
"The thing we have to remember is that this is a 15-year plan. So conferences being the last implementation area of the plan, starting with culture, then to recreational, then to events and the conferences."
About 68 per cent of the respondents agreed the Vision 2030, as presented, properly represents Sundre's character and potential for the next 15 years, he said, adding only 7.6 per cent disagreed, while 24.2 per cent didn't know or weren't certain.
"This strategy is intended to not just be a tourism strategy," said Allan. "It's because of the incorporation of the culture, and the rec activities and all these areas that really help the residents. It's meant to also be a labour recruitment tool as well by improving the community's quality of life."
The last question to respondents was open-ended, asking people to provide any additional insights or comments, he said.
"With the new berms along the river's edge, make them appealing for walks, picnics and sitting just watching the river. A walkway with art installations for added interest would be an extra draw but expensive," was one of the comments.
"That's the kind of thing that we're going for with this vision," said Allan. "So it's nice to see people actually writing comments like that."
Another submitted comment stated, "In conjunction with conferences, I think Sundre has the potential to do more with this topic pending addition of broadband infrastructure. Sundre can place itself in the future by setting competitive business tax rates, offering an affordable rural lifestyle with urban amenities, and efficient marketing campaigns that target businesses requiring these features."
But another question raised in the comments was whether roads would be repaired or replaced to accommodate any increase in population, said Allan.
"The idea is that with such an economic development strategy, in working with other departments, the other departments would understand that this is where we're going and create capital plans to support the needed infrastructure," he said.
A comment the economic development officer liked said the "Vision 2030 is a great idea. Just like any successful businessperson will tell you, you need to have a vision and long-term plan in place. Thanks for keeping the community updated and involved in this process."
Other suggestions submitted in writing during the public engagement sessions included promoting the fact Sundre is just one hour away from Calgary, and to develop a part of the riverbank into a public beach, "which could be neat if we can find a way to do it," said Allan.
Among the next steps is to finalize the draft plan or vision and present it to council, he said.
"We will revise as necessary, and we're hoping for planned adoption as soon as April."
Click here for council's discussion on Allan's report.
