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Sparwood plans to revamp Leisure Centre grounds

The District of Sparwood has unveiled their plans to makeover the Leisure Centre grounds

The District of Sparwood has unveiled their plans to makeover the Leisure Centre grounds. Following a nearly year long process that included a site analysis, surveys, open houses, and meetings, a final Master Plan has been created.

Three plans (A, B, and C) were presented to the residents of Sparwood during the Family Day weekend and kept on display for three weeks at the Leisure Centre. While Plan A was the most popular, there were elements in all three that the public wanted to see included in a final plan.

At a council meeting held on February 18, Director of Community and Facility Services Duane Lawrence outlined the Master Plan to mayor and council.

“As a part of the process we wanted to make sure that we were engaging the community,” explained Lawrence. “The vision that they came up with was that the Leisure Centre is a central recreation and outdoor social hub in the community, supporting year round recreation, sport, social events, and informal park activities for people of all ages and abilities in an active setting.”

Keeping the public’s vision and feedback in mind, the final plan includes an enhanced Heritage Park, relocated bike and skate parks, an outdoor fitness centre, additional entrance features, a disc golf putting course, enhanced Lions Park picnic area, and the relocation of the current playground.

“The purpose is to develop the Leisure Centre grounds into an area that will meet the community’s needs for the future and build a lasting legacy,” said Lawrence. “The site is planned to be developed over a period of time responding to the needs of the development and replacement of updated facilities, public input on specific activities, and available funding.”

The plan is designed to be broken down into smaller pieces or individual components and will be carried out in a phased approach.

“That allows us to build gradually into the project as far as what we want to achieve,” Lawrence commented. “If the skateboard park is a priority for the community and there is community initiative to do fundraising, we can move that up as a higher priority. There are also smaller things that we can do in house as we move along.”

Council voted unanimously to adopt the plan and the District will now begin to move forward with determining what the development priorities are.

The full plan can be viewed online at www.sparwood.ca/residents/recreation.