Building Community: A strategy for recreation, parks and culture services in Strathcona County

The strategy

The  Recreation and Culture Strategy was approved by Council on October 8, 2019.

Recreation Culture Strategy (18.9 MB)

Areas of focus and implementation plan

The Recreation and Culture Strategy focuses on five key areas:

• community needs
• inclusion
• building capacity
• environmental stewardship and
• fiscal responsibility

These areas of focus inform the priorities in the implementation plan. The detailed 12-year implementation outlines short, medium and long-term priorities, including public investment recommendations.

Implementation plan (7.0 MB)

2023: Shaping the next four years

Since the strategy was created in 2019, Strathcona County has enhanced welcoming spaces and places for all residents to enjoy. Some of the initiative conducted were:

• Creating free and accessible winter opportunities at The Broadmoor: cross-country skiing and tobogganing
• Hosting the 2023 Alberta Special Olympics Winter Games
• Building new spray decks in McPherson and Summerton Park
• a skateboard park in Ardrossan,
• Facilitating opportunities for Seniors to connect with new and old friends
• Made accessibility improvements at a variety of facilities
• Adding universal changerooms at Kinsmen Leisure Centre
• Creating the accessible box office at Festival Place,
• Maintaining existing assets, including the Millennium Place revitalization project 

Now, in 2023, it is time to plan for phase two of the implementation plan.

A community check-in ran from May 1 - 21. This included a community survey, youth survey, two Community Conversations with community groups and a group survey. Check out the What We Heard Report to see what the community had to say.

What went into the strategy?

1 - Public engagement

The public engagement process is summarized in this report:
Public engagement overview (6.5 MB)

Read a summary of the feedback we have received:
What we heard report (4.1 MB)

2 - Research

In addition to the public engagement, we researched five key areas: Community profile, County plans and policies, trends, broader planning review and facilities and spaces.

• Research summary (1.0 MB)
• Broader planning review (3.2 MB)
• Community profile (1.0 MB)
• Facilities and spaces (1.8 MB)
• Plans and policies (5.5 MB)
• Trends (3.1 MB)

3 - Advisory committees input

We met with the following Council Advisory committees in the Fall of 2019 to gather their insights in consideration of the development of the implementation plan. Here is what we heard from each committee:

• Community Living Advisory Committee (100.9 KB)
• Seniors Advisory Committee (103.1 KB)
• Accessibility Advisory Committee (100.7 KB)
• Youth Advisory Committee (102.7 KB)

4 – Community group input

Community, sports and culture groups in Strathcona County also provided their input into the strategy.

Community group eNewsletter

Do you represent a community, sport or culture group in Strathcona County? If so, please sign up for the enewsletter below to stay informed about opportunities to provide input into the next phase of the Recreation and Culture Strategy.