Morinville town council will provide at least $107,000 at the Lakes district to build a playground, but an expert says that might not be enough to make the park happen.
Council voted 4-2 last week in favour of spending $107,205 plus any money left over from its parks planning contract with Environmental Design Solutions (EDI) to fund phase one of park development in the Lakes district. Phase one includes trails and a playground.
Last May, council asked EDI consultant John Buchko to come up with a phasing strategy for the Montreux, Heritage Lakes and the Lakes parks. Council also supported Coun. David Pattison’s motion to continue proactive planning of the town’s open space network and Coun. Lisa Holmes’s motion to find $100,000 to develop phase one of the Lakes park.
The town had $107,250 available in developer contributions and the developer recreation contribution reserve fund to build the Lakes park, reported Debbie Oyarzun, the town’s chief administrative officer.
Buchko’s phasing strategy listed short and long-term goals for the Montreux, Heritage and Lakes parks. The town should build trails and an off-leash dog park in Montreux now, for example, and leave a spray park to the future. It should also build picnic tables in Heritage Lakes before it puts a boat launch there. A town-wide parks strategy would be available by September, he added.
Coun. Nicole Boutestein said she was done with parks studies.
“I’d like to see some action now,” she said.
She moved to have the town spend $107,250 on the Lakes park now in addition to any cash left over in Buchko’s contract – which, as of last week, meant $25,000. (That amount could change as more invoices come in, Oyarzun said.)
That cash wouldn’t necessarily be enough to get the town a playground, Buchko said. Oyarzun suggested that staff come back with a plan for a $100,000 park and see if council liked it.
Coun. Gordon Boddez opposed the move.
“There are a lot of people in this community that deserve to know what the future of parks is,” he said, and that planning cash was needed to figure that out.
The town is developing its parks on a piecemeal basis with this motion, Pattison said, who opposed it.
“All I want are the costs.”
“But you’re going to spend $25,000 to do it,” Boutestein countered.
Plans are prudent, Holmes said, but Lakes residents have waited three years for a park.
“We committed to the people of the Lakes three years ago that we were going to get something there. This is a cumulation of that,” Holmes said.
Guidance is important, said Coun. Sheldon Fingler, but sometimes it’s up to council to lead the way.
“It’s our job sometimes to think about what our community needs,” he said, “and not just (that of) a consultant.”
