Town of Sundre councillors are participating in an accessibility challenge and will be manoeuvring their way around town in wheelchairs later this month.
Town officials believe that this will assist the planning and development department.
“We're going to have a number of wheelchairs and, depending on how many people we have, people are going to be on teams of four to five and they will go from the town office to the Best Western,” said Erin O'Neill, the town's manager of planning and development.
The plan is for teammates to switch every fifth of the route, again depending on how many people participate, she said.
During the council meeting on May 6, councillors accepted the challenge.
However, Coun. Paul Isaac expressed concerns of possible injuries. O'Neill said there will be Sundre RCMP officers present, along with the town's bylaw officer.
Coun. Tony Jordan said it was a “red flag” to him that there will be patrols on scene making sure councillors are safe but that this isn't the case for average citizens.
On May 23, at 10 a.m., councillors will begin the challenge at the town office, along with members of the chamber of commerce and fellow community members, said O'Neill.
Also, members of the Sundre Senior Housing and Care Committee will participate, as the committee is working with the town to put the event together.
“At the end of the challenge we're going to be giving everybody a questionnaire where they can fill out the top three accessibility concerns in town,” she said.
“Those ideas will be reported back to council and we can actually start making solutions to try to help some of the walkability concerns in the downtown.”
Town officials from the planning and development department recently attended a community planning association conference, where the idea arose, she said.
One of the sessions which officials attended at the conference was hosted by the Canadian Paraplegic Association, she said.
“During that session we were challenged to use a wheelchair and try to manoeuvre ourselves through the hotel that we were at,” she said.
“There were times that the wheelchairs were so big that we couldn't even get into some of the washrooms.”
She said other councils and towns have participated in accessibility challenges before.
“I think it will benefit the community because it will bring the issues of accessibility to the forefront of everybody's mind and remind us about our challenges, specifically downtown,” she said.
“It will also help inform the Municipal Development Plan, the Corridor Plan and the Master Recreation Plan.”
Anyone and everyone is welcome to participate, she said.
Mayor Annette Clews said she is looking forward to the challenge.
“I'm actually very excited about it. I think it will be very interesting to find out how easy it is for the mobile challenged to get around town, not to mention the moms with their strollers,” said Clews.
“When it comes to planning and development we will have a better understanding of what the needs are for our community to make it much more friendly,” she said.
