Hollinger Park is one of the city's crown jewels and most popular recreation areas and city officials are seeking public input on potential improvements.
A public meeting was held on Thursday night at the McIntyre Auditorium in Schumacher, hosted by Director of Development and Community Services Mark Jensen and representatives from Parks and Recreation.
The forum marks a significant change in process in the city, as previous parks were often negotiated with and designed by property developers, or were the brainchild of a parks and recreation staff member.
Jensen says this led to a glut of underused park spaces that do not meet the actual needs of the community.
He told those in attendance that the city simply has too many park spaces that should be dealt with appropriately. That recommendation was echoed in the Core Services Review performed by KPMG.
“The whole idea at the end of the day, is to try to balance that somewhat, so we can use money that we're spending maintaining areas that aren't used and re-invest it in areas we're actually using,” he said.
A strong contingent from City Hall also took part in the process.
Mayor Steve Black, Chief Administrative Officer Joe Torlone, as well as city Councillors Noella Rinaldo, Pat Bamford, Walter Wawrzaszek and Joe Campbell were on hand to gain insight from citizens.
Large overhead maps of the park were placed around the room where everyone could add their ideas and sketch them in place.
Among the ideas pitched:
- Converting the smaller youth soccer fields to a full-sized adult field.
- The addition of a skateboard park.
- More trees planted, both for shade and privacy.
- The addition of restroom facilities closer to the playground area.
- More picnic tables and benches
- The re-installation of a skating rink, in order to promote better usage during winter months.
- Historical information plaques around the park.
- A water fountain
- Re-arrangement of the parking situation.
A listener survey performed by Q92/Kiss radio revealed one of the top requests was 'a water slide'.
“We're trying to make a concerted effort to secure input from users of the park before we start making any changes, or changing any design elements. The input we received tonight, we're going to summarize, and of course we are receiving input through other means as well,” said Jensen.
He says they will identify 'common themes' and summarize all of the input for city council in the near future.
“Given that we're in the middle of budget deliberations, I can foresee some decisions being made in terms of moving forward with some of the ideas. Lots of excellent ideas were raised. It's a matter of working it into a long-term plan, and hopefully achieving something in 2016, and moving along through the years and adding more as we can afford it,” said Jensen.
Not all of the feasible ideas can be implemented in a one- or two-fiscal-year period due to obvious budget constraints, and there are other major decisions to be made.
“We've had reviews done by professionals with respect to some of the elements in that park already, including the historic grandstands, which obviously are in need of some tender loving care. There are cost implications and decisions that have to be made by council," said Jensen.
He says maintenance staff have identified priorities that have to be addressed in the short-term, and they cannot go simply by public requests, as they are also dealing with financial realities.
“We're going to try to balance all of that and come up with a long-term plan for the park, because it is one of our premier parks in the city. My goal, in our department, is to try to rationalize our park space, so we can find better uses for parks and open space areas that aren't very well used."
The grandstand at the Hollinger baseball field is one of the oldest of its kind in Ontario.
Jensen remarked that Timmins does not have a vast array of historical infrastructure, a factor which cannot be overlooked.
Bamford said that the grandstand has a significant note of nostalgia.
“We need to decide what we're going to do with the grandstands in terms of preserving that asset, and if we can enhance that area maybe that would be an even larger concert area if its set up right,” said Black.
The repairs could cost over $300,000. A potentially tough ask of taxpayers.
Could government historical grants assist the City of Timmins in preserving a piece of its history?
“There are a number of programs out there that we can investigate. Often times, it comes down to timing and when they're available, and when we plan to move ahead, so we'll certainly explore those options as we move forward,” said Jensen.
Black said the meeting was a success and that it will give council some important direction.
“We're in the budget process now, so staff will take a look at it and find common themes. When they make their budget presentations this year, hopefully they can come back with a multi-year plan for what will be done with the park, instead of whats been done over the last couple of years,” said Black.
“This should establish a vision for the park. It can't all be done at once, but at least we'll know what a 5-10 year plan is and we can start building towards that.”
The city took a few jabs from KPMG's Oscar Poloni during his latest presentation to council, when he said that Timmins spends $1 dollar for every $4 dollars North Bay spends on parks.
Black feels like an effort needs to be made to address that issue.
“I've been very passionate about parks and recreation, dating back to my time on council. It was definitely a part of my platform as mayor to re-invest in three main parks. One in the east end, one in the west end, and Hollinger Park, to really bring them to the next level and come up with plans for them," he said.
As far as the input Black has received himself for Hollinger Park improvements, safety and outdoor concerts were a priority.
“I've heard a lot about some fencing, or some sort of barrier between the highway and the playground. There's been a lot of discussion in terms of concerts and seating options there, and what other communities have done,” he said.
“If you can bring some use for the winter as well, and treat it as a year round park and have the skating back and maybe even snowmobile races someday. Our winters are quite long and does make sense to make sure we can use our parks year round” said Black.
