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 (11.4 MB)

2026: Shaping the next four years

Since the last community check‑in in 2023, Strathcona County has made several significant investments in recreation and culture, including:

• Opening and beginning operations at The Pointe Agricultural Event Centre.

• Developing the Gemstone Gallery on the second floor of Emerald Hills Leisure Centre, which showcases artwork created by local youth artists.

• Collaborating with the City of Edmonton and the River Valley Alliance to design and construct Amisk Wâciw Âsokan (Beaver Hills Bridge), a new pedestrian footbridge spanning the North Saskatchewan River and connecting Edmonton and Strathcona County.

• Enhancing or adding to a range of outdoor amenities across parks and open spaces, including trails, gazebos, picnic shelters, basketball courts, skate parks, and playground expansions. 

A community check-in ran from May 1 - 21, 2023. 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 (0 bytes)

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 (0 bytes)
• Seniors Advisory Committee (0 bytes)
• Accessibility Advisory Committee (0 bytes)
• Youth Advisory Committee (0 bytes)

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, culture or agriculture 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.

Personal information is collected under the authority of section 4(c) of the Protection of Privacy Act and will be used to manage and administer Strathcona County's e-newsletters. If you have questions regarding the collection, use or disclosure of this information contact the Manager, Finance and Business Operations, Strathcona County Recreation, Parks and Culture department at 780-467-2211.