CBRM council approves recreation plan
‘It’s really a beginning process’
A master plan overseeing all recreational facilities in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality has now been approved but decisions about the future of individual locations including possible closures will come back to coun- cil on a case-bycase basis.
Council voted to accept the plan, prepared by Trace Planning and Design, and its implementation strategy at a meeting this week.
Dist. 11 Coun. Kendra Coombes was the only member of council to vote against acceptance of the plan. When she said she had been hoping the plan would have “more meat on the bone,” Bill Murphy, director of recreation, parks, grounds, buildings and facilities, stressed it is a planning document.
“All of the decisions and all of the implications of the decisions will come back to council and be vetted with approvals of council,” he said. “It’s really a beginning process not an ending process.”
Murphy said the draft plan will be available on the CBRM website for residents to access and offer feedback. He said the focus is currently on how to most effectively use its resources.
Coombes said Murphy’s explanations eased a lot of her concerns, but she ultimately voted against it because of lingering confusion.
The process of reviewing all of
the CBRM’s recreation facilities — including those not owned by the municipality — began in early 2016. In all, the review looked at about 900 facilities throughout the CBRM currently offering recreational programming, from parks to arenas.
In addition to serving as a database of recreational facilities and their current condition, the plan also included public consultation and discussed the need to realign recreation staff to support the delivery of programs and looked at how the network of facilities can best serve the needs of residents over the next 15 years.
Dist. 10 Coun. Darren Bruckschwaiger said it’s not possible to place a park in every resident’s backyard.
“I haven’t heard anybody come to me lately to tell me to raise the taxes so we get more facilities, I hear them complaining about the highest taxes in the province and I hear them talking about our infrastructure, our roads, water lines and all the other issues we have,” he said.
CAO Marie Walsh said there will be a rationalization of facilities, and Murphy said that won’t be an immediate process but will instead be gradual.
Dist. 4 Coun. Steve Gillespie said he was concerned that the plan compared the CBRM areas such as Fredericton and Halifax rather than an area that shared more common characteristics, but Murphy said the unique nature of the CBRM, particularly its geography, posed challenges.
Among the issues facing the CBRM is trying to ensure it offers recreational opportunities in a sustainable way under present staffing and investment levels, a consultant who worked on the review has noted.
The report identified a level of service below one ice surface per 10,000 residents, which it states is comparatively high. It noted Fredericton has one per 12,750 and the Halifax region has one per 27,857.
The issue of arenas has been the subject of much discussion in recent months, with major repairs required at the Bayplex in Glace Bay, the Whitney Pier Arena deemed to be at the end of its lifespan and other rinks also aging. The plan suggests the CBRM explore adding a second ice pad at Centre 200 in Sydney.
The plan identified preferred distances from a CBRM resident’s front door to different varieties of parks — 800 metres for neighbourhood parks, 1,600 metres for community parks, 12 kilometres or 20 minutes by car for regional parks.