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Committee to explore future of recreation in Sparwood
The District of Sparwood’s Recreation Facility Advisory Committee (RFAC) has begun its work to determine the future of recreation in Sparwood. In early September the RFAC kicked off with an inaugural meet and greet meeting where members established the Committee Chair and meeting dates.
Later in the month, the RFAC participated in a comprehensive session with Gordon McIntosh, an expert local government facilitator which resulted in the Committee establishing and confirming their process, timeline and deliverables.
Underway, and continuing into early 2025, the RFAC will be focused on an extensive onboarding process. This will include investigating the state of the current facilities and gaining insight into governance, asset management, debt capacity, communications as well as examining and learning from the work done in the past.
Moving into the spring, a major part of the RFAC’s work will be community engagement. Residents of Sparwood can expect many diverse opportunities to provide thoughts on what the future of recreation in Sparwood looks like. The robust engagement plan will be focused on ensuring that not only current residents and facility users are heard, but also the people who would like to use the facility but are not able to now, due to limited space or amenities.
“Determining the needs and wants of the community will be a focus of the RFAC. Concentration will be on understanding the current condition of facilities in Sparwood and investigating options for the future. This could include but is not limited to: do nothing and operate as status-quo, renovate / expand, build a new facility or any combination of the three,” said Councillor Steve Kallies, RFAC Chair.
“Nothing is off the table and the committee will be thoroughly exploring all options.”
The work of the RFAC will be very purposeful in learning the wishes of the community. These findings will then be balanced by the reality of costs, both from a capital and operational perspective. Consideration will also include determining how the options fit with the current Rec Centre and how that asset will be managed in the years ahead.
“The last time the community was asked about a new multi-purpose facility was during the 2022 Election as a referendum question on the ballot. That question was specifically focused on borrowing costs for a new building and that’s where it ended,” said Sparwood Mayor David Wilks.
“Following the election, council paused and gave it time before we brought this topic back for discussion however, we continue to hear this being a focus of our community. Council is highly aware of the importance of a big picture view and planning for the future. This is why we have established the RFAC. Our approach is not to wait and suddenly be in a situation where our recreation facility is critically compromised, but rather to take a look at where we are now, where we see ourselves in the future and then plan for how we achieve this in a responsible and sustainable way.”
The conclusion of the work will be to bring a status report back to council by the end of 2025, which will then determine next steps. “This process is intended to be highly comprehensive and thorough,” said Coun. Kallies. “The RFAC has a great deal of work ahead of them. There is a lot to learn and think about as well as many moving parts to be considered, but the committee is strong and excited for the work ahead.”
RFAC meetings are open to the public with agendas and meeting dates published on the Council Portal. Information and updates on this and other committees can found on the District of Sparwood’s website.
e-KNOW file photo
District of Sparwood
