With the intention of passing the budget over the next few months, Callander Council has asked city staff to provide a Parks and Recreation Master Plan to help inform budget decisions.

The master plan, presented to council at its December 21 meeting, is intended to guide future decisions regarding parks and recreational facilities in Callander.

The council agreed that the municipality has a variety of facilities available to residents and would like to find ways to encourage the community to use what is already there, rather than spending money on it. provide more.

Mayor Rob Noon noted that “anything we do beyond what we currently do will add more staff time” to do so, which is a “concern” as it will add additional expense to the budget.

Overall, the idea is to improve the quality of life in the municipality. In 2019, the municipality carried out a survey called “My Callander Cares”, to which residents responded that “the quality of life was satisfactory”.

The municipality realized that there was room for improvement to “satisfactory”.

Encouraging tourism is also a key objective for the city, as stated in Callander’s strategic plan. Parks and recreational facilities could also play a role in achieving this goal.

The plan notes that “Callander’s population growth has slowed,” although it “expects to increase by 30 residents per year over the next ten years,” which could also inform planning for the parks and recreation of the city. advice.

Another issue with the plan is whether municipal facility revenues are a top priority. Should more emphasis be placed on the rental of facilities, or should tariffs be kept to a minimum to encourage more community use?

Mayor Noon was reluctant to “go down the path of for-profit businesses,” maintaining lower rates allowing community clubs to take advantage of the spaces.

He wants to ensure that plans for programming and activities hosted by the municipality are designed “not to compete” with the efforts of the private sector.

The crown jewel of Callander’s recreational facilities is the Community Center, which currently hosts a variety of clubs and groups free of charge — pickleball, tai chi, Brownies, and more.

One idea of ​​the plan is to offer different activities and clubs throughout the month and to sell memberships that allow residents to participate in activities of interest. The income earned could be re-injected into building maintenance and allocated to new equipment.

Educational classes could be added to this model, such as cooking classes or other workshops that could generate interest in the community.

The facility is also rented out for weddings and other larger events. In the plan, staff noted “bar equipment needs updating” and improvements could be made to the sound system.

“New curtains” would also be good, and these improvements should be considered for future budgets.

More than half of Callander’s population is over 50, so creating more programs for this demographic is also something the board should consider.

Councilor Jordy Carr predicted that this would be in the master plan, noting the need to promote programs for seniors and programs for young people that provide the opportunity for “a real conversation about balancing this”.

The Bill Barber Arena is also highlighted in the report, noting that the facility “has room to be expanded to become a properly functioning hockey arena” and that “if we developed the arena we could make it happen. ‘use for games and team rentals “and could” possibly have a local league “using it on a regular basis.

The plan would “take time away from family skates” and also require “a dashboard, additional locker rooms and an appropriate sound system”, all of which should be included in the budget.

The opening of the canteen in the Orton room is also suggested in the report. A trial opening was carried out in 2019, “and was successful” with residents.

“I would love to see more things happening there for the community,” said councilor Irene Smit, who is hosting a “family skate day where we open the canteen,” she added, “somehow. thing that says come here “.

There is also a canteen at Centennial Park, which is usually open during major community events such as Canada Day and Callander Lights Up Christmas.

The report suggests opening it more often to make better use of the facility, or perhaps renting the space from a local restaurant or food truck.

“We have a lot of resources here,” said Smit, although a lot of it “isn’t being used, and I think that’s a real shame.”

“Let’s open our doors to the community, make it more welcoming,” she suggested.

As for the Bill Barber Arena during the summer months, the plan suggests that it could serve as a suitable venue for day camps, musical performances, outdoor weddings and receptions, and perhaps a farmer’s market. .

Yarlasky Field’s goal is also mentioned in the report. “If we can decide what kind of field it is, we can advertise it for specific uses,” staff said.

As it stands, the terrain offers more of an overall sporting experience, but the suggestion is there to reduce its use value to a single activity.

For example, “if Yarlasky Field is supposed to be a baseball field,” staff explain that “bases and sand must be added to this facility to make it a properly functioning baseball field.”

Decisions have to be made and these choices can affect budget discussions.

In addition, the future of the facilities on the South Shore is also up for debate. All board members agreed that the facility is underutilized – “rarely used and barely rented” – sums up the report.

A euchre club rented it once a week throughout 2019, and there were two other rentals that year as well.

Council was encouraged to consider future uses of the facility and to present their ideas to staff at a future meeting.

There is a lot for the council to consider, given that all of the municipality’s parks and recreation facilities are on the table.

“We all have good ideas” on how best to integrate the future of parks and recreation into the city’s overall strategies for economic and population growth, “but it’s only a question of how much costs, ”said Mayor Rob Noon.

He stressed the importance of “building on the municipal strengths, and the strengths of the city”, which already exist “and taking advantage of these opportunities to further develop” the value of what the city has.

The council received the report well, and their overall feedback was to ask staff to come up with opportunities that would not add to the upcoming budget, but still provide attractive options for residents to participate in local recreational activities.

“Community driven, we can work with that,” said Ashley Bilodeau, City Manager for Callander.

There is also talk of creating a survey to gather information from the public, but the council will have to finalize this decision at a future meeting.