2017 Recreation and Parks Master Plan

Recreation and parks facilities, programs, and services play a vital role in our community and in the lives of our residents. 

A Recreation & Parks Master Plan provides the City with up-to-date insight on community needs, and effective ways to deliver programs and services over the next 10 years. The Master Plan is an update to the 2002 Recreation & Parks Master Plan.

After extensive community consultation, the Recreation & Parks Master Plan with Executive Summary and Skateboard Park Strategy with Executive Summary were finalized and subsequently approved by Pickering Council on January 15, 2018 (as per Council Resolution #389/18).

Points of clarification to the Council approved documents
  1. The location of the new Skateboard Park, proposed to be in front of the main entrance to the Pickering Recreation Complex, is not supported by Council. As such, staff will investigate other locations within the Pickering City Centre for the new community skateboard park.
  2. Prior to implementation, staff will initiate a consultative process with applicable user groups (including but not limited to Tennis members, Tennis pay as you go participants, Golden members, Tennis Pro and 1st Pickering Pickleball Club) to further discuss recommendation #25 of the Master Plan report (to delineate playing boundaries for pickleball on an existing indoor tennis court at the Recreation Complex). This consultative process would likely take most of 2018 so the project would not come before Council any earlier than 2019.
  3. The racquetball player committee will be given the opportunity to increase membership, usage and revenues to reach City established targets over a 2 year period ending December 31, 2019. Subject to the results of this endeavour, staff will initiate a consultative process to implement recommendation #26 of the Master Plan report (repurposing options for the racquetball court) no earlier than 2019. This consultative work will include but is not limited to racquetball members, racquetball pay as you go participants, handball participants, complex members and the general public. The repurposing of the racquetball court will be a budget item which would come before Council for approval prior to implementation, and not before 2020. 

Hard copies of the Recreation & Parks Master Plan and Skateboard Park Strategy can be made available upon request. Please contact Alyssa Slack at 905.420.4660 ext. 2146 or at aslack@pickering.ca

Thank you to everyone who participated in this very important process for the City of Pickering! The input received from the public and stakeholders throughout this process has helped shape the development of the Recreation & Parks Master Plan and Skateboard Park Strategy.

To stay informed, send an email to communityservices@pickering.ca

Background

Recreation and parks facilities, programs, and services play a vital role in our community and in the lives of our residents. To provide direction to maintain these important community assets over the next ten years, the City of Pickering is preparing a Recreation & Parks Master Plan as approved at the Council meeting of October 17, 2016. This process will provide the City with up-to-date insight on community needs, and effective ways to provide facilities and deliver programs. The master plan will be an update of the 2002 Recreation & Parks Master Plan; view the Strategic Plan Report and the Technical Plan Report.

The community engagement period is now complete. Thank you to everyone who participated! Over the past few months, residents and user groups provided input to inform the master planning process through a number of opportunities including Open HousePublic Input SessionsPop-Up EventRandom Household Telephone Survey, and User Group Survey. Written submissions were also received. 

 

Public Input Sessions

Afternoon and evening Public Input Sessions were held on January 31, 2017 at the Pickering Recreation Complex to introduce the project to the public and to collect initial feedback. Over 50 people participated in the sessions and submitted comments. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Open House

An Open House was held on Monday, November 27th at the Pickering Recreation Complex (Lobby) from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm providing an opportunity for the community to speak to Staff, and provide your feedback to the draft Recreation & Parks Master Plan and Skateboard Park Strategy.

Public and community stakeholders were also invited to provide their feedback to the draft reports online during the period of November 16 to December 6, 2017. Online submissions were received.

The summary of community feedback to the draft Recreation & Parks Master Plan and Skateboard Park Strategy is reflected in Appendix E of the Recreation & Parks Master Plan.

Pop-Up Event

A Pop-Up Event was held at the Pickering Recreation Complex on February 20, 2017 to collect input on how to improve indoor and outdoor parks and recreation facilities, and programs. Thank you to everyone to participated!

Random Household Telephone Survey

A Random Household Telephone Survey was conducted between February 27, 2017 to March 20, 2017 to collect input on residents' participation, opinions, and preferences in recreation and parks opportunities. 384 household surveys were completed. Thank you to everyone who participated!

User Group Survey

A User Group Survey was conducted between February 24 to March 27, 2017 to collect information about participation rates, facility usage, areas for improvement, and future needs. 36 user groups submitted a completed survey. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Skateboard Strategy

The City of Pickering has initiated the development of a Skateboard Park Strategy that will guide decision-making on existing and future skateboard park needs. The Skateboard Park Strategy will provide direction on how best to meet needs, including potential locations to consider for future skateboard parks.

Information shared at the June 27 Open House & Design Workshop is available through the links below: