Sports & Recreation Needs Assessment

Update February, 2023

Project Overview & Inputs

The Sport and Recreation Needs Assessment was developed to help guide planning, decision making, and resource allocation. Through the Needs Assessment process, the consulting team and District staff were able to better understand the current state of sport and recreation in the area and identify potential future priorities. Research and analysis undertaken as part of the Needs Assessment included:

• Public and community stakeholder engagement (614 residents provided feedback through surveys and 40 community groups / interests were engaged through discussion sessions and a web based survey).
• Review of available facility and program utilization data
• Analysis of population and potential growth
• Trends and leading practices review
• Benchmarking

Needs Assessment Outcomes

A Prioritization Framework was used to translate the research and engagement into a ranked list of amenity types. This ranked list then informed a series of Amenity Strategies – recommended short and medium term actions and next steps for different types of sport and recreation infrastructure.

Summarized as follows are key Amenity Strategies. The importance of re-investing in existing infrastructure was also strongly identified in the Amenity Strategies.

• Undertake the necessary planning to analyze and determine the best approach to add a second sheet of arena ice.
• Undertake feasibility analysis on an aquatics facility when the District population is nearing 20,000 residents.
• Monitor gymnasium space use in the near term and if capacity challenges exist in 5 years, re-assess the need for incremental gymnasium and multi-sport space.
• Consider including complementary activity spaces like a running / walking tracks and fitness / wellness spaces in a new arena and/or multi-sport facility should these projects be undertaken in the future.
• Sustain the current ball diamond inventory and work with the baseball community to establish pre-requisite targets before baseball specific diamonds are developed.
• Work with the pickleball community to better track participation data, foster capacity, and work towards building a pickleball hub (12+ court facility).
• Initiative planning in the short term to add needed rectangular sport field capacity. The addition of this capacity could occur through one or a combination of retrofitting an existing site (e.g. replacing a natural surface with artificial turf, better orientating fields, etc.) and/or development at a new site.
• Develop the proposed mountain bike park (planning currently underway) and assess opportunities for skate spots and pump tracks as part of future park development on an ongoing basis.

What’s Next

Review the Draft Needs Assessment:

Take a look at the draft report by following the link provided on the right side of this page.

Apply to be on the Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee:

Would you like to provide expertise and advice to Council on issues pertaining to parks and recreation? Council is seeking volunteer members to serve on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee. Please provide a letter of interest outlining your relevant background and interest in serving on this Committee via email: admin@lakecountry.bc.ca or regular mail: 10150 Bottom Wood Lake Road, Lake Country, BC V4V 2M1

Update August 16th:

Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to the survey. In total there were 613 surveys submitted.

Congratulations to our contest winners:

Meghan - $400 Source for Sports Gift Certificate

Ginger, Barry & Sandra each won $200 District of Lake Country Recreation Program/Facility Rental Credits.

Update July 11th:

Anyone wanting to participate in the Sports and Recreation Needs Assessment survey, can now do so without having an access code. Postcards with the required codes were mailed out last month, but if you did not receive one or maybe misplaced the card, just use this link to access the survey! It's easy and Council needs your input.

Survey closes August 15th.

Do you have an opinion about sports and recreation in Lake Country?

Recreation and sport services contribute directly to Lake Country's citizens’ quality of life including personal health and social connectivity. Additionally, recreation facilities provide opportunity for tourism and economic development. For these reasons, it’s important that the District has a reasonable, rationale and cost effective strategy to ensure that our sport and recreation infrastructure is able to meet current and future community needs.

In 2022 Council approved funding for a sports and recreation needs assessment to engage user groups and the community about current facility utilization and where facility investments should be prioritized within a 15 year time period. The Needs Assessment will help Council better understand future needs and priorities for sports and recreation services (including facilities and programming) for our growing community.

Gathering the opinions of residents is an important part of completing the Needs Assessment - Council wants to hear from you! Look for a postcard in your mailbox that includes a unique access code. Once you have the code - click here and fill in the survey before August 15th.

Input is appreciated and valued and will be relayed back to Council.

To thank you for your time - once you have completed the survey you will be entered to win one of four great prizes:

Grand Prize: A $400 Source for Sports Gift Card

Runners Up: One of three $200 District of Lake Country Recreation Program/Facility Rental Credits

Total: $1,000 value