A draft report of Tantramar’s Recreation Master Plan recommends that the municipality formally conduct a feasibility study on a potential multi-use building.
An update on the report, developed in partnership with Canadian consulting firm RC Strategies, was presented by RC Strategies staff at the last regular council meeting before the municipal election back on April 14.
After engaging with the public and local stakeholders, one thing became easily apparent, said Meaghan Carey, partner at the firm.
“ One of the key pieces of feedback that we received consistently throughout our different engagement intakes, as well as looking at your different opportunities and our analysis of utilization, is the need for a multi-purpose community space.”
Listen to the audio below:
The suggested timeline, provided council eventually approves the plan, would see the building potentially completed in the next 5-10 years.
It was news that made Councillor Josh Goguen especially happy, he said.
“This has been something that’s been talked about for years and it’s just kind of been, ‘well, not right now, not right now.’ So now we have something to say concretely that, ‘hey, this is the time to do it.'”
The Recreation Master Plan is meant to help guide the municipality over the next 10-plus years and in order to develop the plan, they first created two background reports—the What We Heard report and the What We Learned Report.
Based on demographic analysis, other municipalities, sector-specific considerations and community engagement—which included 298 community survey responses, community group meetings and engagement with youth through a survey—they workshopped a draft of the master plan with administration, said Carey.
“The master plan is structured around that key vision, which we summarized down to move, connect and belong. And that’s the community that we’re working towards.”
The report will have 16 service delivery recommendations which include establishing a Parks and Recreation Working Group and developing local and regional partners, said Carey.
“We do include a key recommendation around establishing a formal partnership or memorandum of understanding between the university and the municipality. The purpose of this will be helping to define community access to university spaces, and also university access to community spaces. So really building on that key relationship that provides important opportunities to your residents to provide opportunities for recreation access.”
Both background plans can be found on the municipality’s website on the Active Living and Culture page. The slide deck for the presentation can also be found under the Administration and Government page.
