There's a chance the MD of Bonnyville's outdoor recreation park could be within town limits.
Although the opportunity is still in the "very preliminary" stages, Town of Bonnyville Mayor Gene Sobolewski confirmed they have tossed around the idea.
“We’ve had preliminary, or round-table, discussions as to why this is a possibility, but it hasn’t gone any higher than that,” he noted.
The spot the municipalities have in mind is on the west-end of town. According to Sobolewski, the current facilities is one of the reasons why the location is so viable.
“Essentially, there’s existing infrastructure already there, such as the ball diamonds, which would be synergistic to the elaborated recreational area,” expressed Sobolewski. "There’s not as much on capital investment that you would have to do (compared to) if you were to build it all from scratch. You have to be cognizant of the existing inventory that you don’t build too much.”
MD Reeve Greg Sawchuk agreed.
He said the space is close to the walking trail, which would make it accessible to those who are travelling on foot or by bike.
This was one of the factors that make a location appealing to RC Strategies+PERC, the firm hired to conduct a feasibility study for the project, as well.
“Proximity to town is something I think that’s fairly important to consider, particularly if there are those spontaneous and unstructured-type of amenities on the site. Those are things that people are more likely to walk or ride their bike to, as opposed to a diamond or sports field,” said Stephen Slawuta of RC Strategies+PERC during a presentation to the MD on Wednesday, July 3.
He added, “If you’re including those, you would want it to be accessible through active transportation, if you could in any way."
For the MD, accessibility and "the fact that the land has already been developed," are a plus.
"It’s already owned by the town, those are also a couple of major factors in terms of the recreation park. In this case, it might be better that we work with the town,” Sawchuk stated.
Both municipalities felt this project was an opportunity to collaborate on a recreational site that would benefit all residents.
Sobolewski noted it will also prevent the duplication of any services.
“You want to gather your inventory and information on everything that’s out there… and come up with numbers in terms of what’s best and necessary for the region, not just individual communities, and ensure that you’re not over constructing or over building, so everyone can enjoy tournaments and can have the full enjoyment without it becoming a burden on municipalities."
During Slawuta's presentation, he outlined what the future park could look like, what residents want to see, as well as the capital and operating costs.
The first phase includes the construction of four baseball diamonds, four full-sized soccer pitches, pickleball courts, a playground, a site hub, family day-use area, loop trail, and non-serviced campsites. It would cost the municipality roughly $16.7-million.
Phase two, which rings in at about $2.6-million, features an outdoor event space and a boarded outdoor rink.
In the final phase, the campsites are upgraded, an additional baseball quad is built, and a future activity space is defined at a cost of $4.7-million.
According to Slawuta, they've budgeted for a 30 per cent contingency.
"That’s a pretty big swing, obviously. At this point, there are a lot of unknowns in terms of site servicing and grading,” he said, adding it doesn't account for the purchase of land or operating expenses.
Their estimated operating revenues, which would come from baseball diamond and sports field user fees, as well as tournaments and other rentals, are roughly $47,000.
Using a $6,000 per acre annual cost to operate the primary phase one space, which is about 21.5-acres, and a yearly $3,000 per acre price tag for the secondary spaces, Slawuta is gauging the expenditures for the park to be around $219,000 every year, resulting in a subsidy of over $117,000 annually.
“These numbers are kind of based on industry standards, having done a number of these studies and having access to that information on the cost for a municipality, this is what we thought would be the best way to go about this,” Slawuta expressed.
He added, it's also based off of the concept that the MD would maintain the park themselves, with other opportunities, such as having user groups manage certain portions of the park, to cut back on costs.
Slawuta recommended council also consider allocating a small amount every year for any life cycle or capital allocations.
He explained, “When we do master plan-level work, what we suggest is that municipalities set aside two per cent of the capital replacement value on an ongoing basis... At some point, all of these components are going to need a significant upgrade, and we think that’s the best practice to put into this. It certainly would impact the expenditure-side of the ledger as well."
Since initiating the feasibility study, Slawtua has noticed "a relatively strong level of support for the project."
“Overall, 66 per cent of residents surveyed indicated some level of support, but it really does vary quite a bit when we broke up the sub-segment based on where people live,” he added.
In most cases, residents believed an outdoor recreation park was needed.
Slawuta expressed how the company "heard from stakeholders that the current facilities they have make it challenging to host tournaments or grow their programs to higher levels."
“We heard that not having that multipurpose hub in the community limits the ability to go and compete for provincial and regional events,” he continued.
A strong pattern noticed in the study, Slawuta said, was the demand for a mix of amenities such as barbecue and day-use areas, playgrounds, trails, and camping.
“There’s this societal demand for spontaneous, unstructured, passive recreation, and also from an operational point of view, if you include both applicable programmable space like ball diamonds and sports fields, they would be very complimentary with passive spaces as well to ensure the space is used throughout the year, which maximizes your investment,” Slawuta emphasized.
Sawchuk stressed that just like their discussions with the town, this project is still in the very early stages and isn't a guarantee just yet.
“It’s very preliminary, so if there’s a will by both councils to look at that as a possibility, it might end up being something that’s better phased in over time as the need suggests,” he said about the possible location.
If the municipality does decide to move forward, they could take a completely different approach to the project.
Sawchuk explained, “As the recreation needs of the area are looked into a little bit further, we can adjust how we move forward with this, instead of going all-in with one great big, brand new park, maybe it’s better to look at investing in a spot that’s already underway."
