The first round of community consultations for the new Area C Parks Master Plan will occur from Sept. 20th to 23rd.
The schedule of public community consultations is as follows:
Tuesday, Sept, 20 at 7 p.m. at the Sorrento Memorial Hall, Wednesday; Sept. 21, 7 p.m. at the Blind Bay Community Hall; Thursday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. at the White Lake Community Hall; and Friday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. at the Sunnybrae Community Hall.
There are many good reasons why you should participate in these public consultations.
The previous parks plan has been completed and is out of date, so it is appropriate now to develop a new vision and plan for the future. This Parks Master Plan is intended to guide the development of parks and recreation in the South Shuswap for the next 10 to 20 years.
The direction and content of this new plan will largely be influenced by the input provided by participants at these public engagement sessions. If you have a desire to see improvements made to existing facilities, or if you would like to see new recreational opportunities made available in this community, this is the time to step up and have your say.
From talking with many Area C residents it is evident that there are different recreational needs and wants across the South Shuswap. This is why we have arranged for a series of meetings in different communities. In addition to these public meetings, additional inputs will be gathered through interviews with key stakeholders. Further opinions and ideas will also be obtained at kiosks that will be placed in a number of parks across Area C.
Parks represents one of the largest single expenditures made by the CSRD in Area C and for good reason. It’s well-documented that parks provide significant benefits to their communities. For example, a paper put out by the Trust for Public Land in the U.S. outlined seven major factors that have been quantified regarding the economic benefits of parks including: enhanced property values, increased tourism spending, direct savings to residents with free access to parks and related low-cost recreational opportunities, health benefits and savings associated with increased activity, improved community cohesion and social capital warding off antisocial problems and their costs, and environmental savings associated with both reduced water and air pollution.
Given the many benefits of parks and recreation to our overall well-being, I would encourage everyone to participate at these public engagement sessions. I look forward to seeing you there.
-Paul Demenok is the Area C Director for the Columbia Shuswap Regional District