Banff’s draft recreation master plan calls for shortening the curling season at the Fenlands rec centre, a new playground east of Banff Avenue, new plans for the recreation grounds and paving the trail through the woods on Cave Avenue.
The recommendations are still in the draft stage and council will make the final decision on the Recreation Facilities Master Plan once all public feedback is gathered. An online survey has been extended until July 29 for public input.
“The overall theme is working with what land we have and making better use of the facilities we do have all of the time,” said Chad Townsend, the Town of Banff’s point man on the plan.
“Unlike other towns in Alberta, Banff can’t grow outwards with more fields, more playgrounds and more facilities. The whole idea is to have the facilities we do have better used.”
The recreation master plan is a long-range planning document that provides strategic direction for managing and developing parks, recreational facilities, playing fields, infrastructure, and investment over the next 10 years.
Draft recommendations include expanding dry floor uses at the Fenlands recreation centre, such as indoor soccer, in both summer and shoulder seasons, possibly by shortening the curling season.
There is also talk of retrofitting at least one meeting room to accommodate dance or martial arts on an athletic floor.
Key findings in the research that went into developing the recreation master plan shows ice use dominates the newly rebuilt Fenlands and summer bookings are low.
League curling only occurs three nights a week, from October to March, while Fenlands meeting room bookings are low and the Town of Banff has no athletic space to offer. Dance, gymnastics and martial arts occur in other facilities.
“We have an amazing asset in the Fenlands, but it’s almost exclusively used as an ice arena right now,” said Townsend.
Research shows winter use of the recreation grounds is currently limited, and that league softball currently only plays one to two nights a week, and one full day per week, for four months of the year.
A draft recommendation for the Banff rec grounds includes undertaking a site plan to upgrade the park; consider removing the track and reconfigure the sports field; winter off-leash dog park on a ball diamond; establish a permanent location for the skate park, remove or relocate the bike park and construct a new multi-use building.
“There’s a national trend in recreation towards more informal, low intensity activities and less structured, strenuous recreation and team sports,” said Townsend.
For the Banff Seniors Centre at 101 Bear St., there’s a recommendation to convert existing single-use rooms dedicated exclusively to seniors, and one to Parent Link, to multi-use, plus create more space for Parent Link.
For example, Banff Life currently hosts its pasta night in one of the rooms, so activities like that could potentially be considered for upstairs at 101 Bear St.
“This fits with our overall thinking of using a facility all season and as much of the day as possible,” Townsend said.
The Town of Banff also plans to classify all trails in town and apply standards based on the amount of use they get, including surface and increased winter maintenance.
The draft recommendations call for improved pedestrian and bicycle access to the Fenlands and the Sally Borden fitness centre, as well as paving and widening the Cave Avenue trail to better connect with trails at Cave and Basin and Sundance Canyon.
“Most people rated trails in their top three recreation priorities,” said Townsend.
The Town of Banff recommends Central Park be left as a passive green space, with no further facilities development, no formal playing fields, facilities or expanded washroom footprint.
However, consideration is being given to expanding the public art-children’s play area with custom Banff-centric pieces.
The plan also shows there are no playgrounds east of Banff Avenue, meaning some residents have to walk more than 15 minutes, and at the same time residential density is also increasing east of Banff Avenue.
Preliminary recommendations include building a new playground east of Banff Avenue, either on the town-owned corner lot near the high school grounds by removing trees, or through buying one or two residential lots at market value.
In addition, the recommendations include a call for the Town of Banff to consider capital contributions to upgrade the accessibility and family appeal of the pool at the Sally Borden Fitness and Recreation.
“We welcome the public’s feedback on these draft recommendations to help inform council’s decisions,” said Townsend. “Some of these will come up again at capital budget because there are dollars implications.”
