Cricket anyone? Oshawa examining public facilities

NRU
Nov. 12, 2014
By Edward LaRusic

The City of Oshawa is investigating whether its facilities - such as parks, sports fields, libraries, and cultural spaces - are meeting the needs of its growing population and changing demographics.

Community services committee chair, councillor Bob Chapman told NRU that Oshawa is growing, and the city wants to make sure existing and future community facilities meet residents’ needs. To do so, the city has embarked on a Park, Recreation, Library and Cultural Facility Needs Assessment to determine what the city will need in five, 10 and 20 years.

“What is it that we need in our parks? Do we need baseball diamonds or soccer fields? And for recreation, when are we going to need more ice rinks, more indoor pools, more senior citizen centres?” said Chapman. “And of course, libraries are changing. There’s a lot of e-books, electronic stuff happening. Do they need as much space for people to come and read a book, or do they need more space for people to come and sit at a computer?”

The city has a lot of older neighbourhoods that are changing, said Chapman, with young families moving in, which may herald a need to change public parks so they better accommodate activities for children.

But he added that it’s not just the age of its citizens that is changing, it’s where they come from.

“People are coming from different parts of the world. We need to think about things like cricket pitches, tennis courts, sports that [the city’s new immigrants] play. People from the Pacific Rim, they’re not into ice hockey.”

Chapman noted that the city is expecting quite a bit of growth, particularly up north. He said Durham College and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology campuses have spurred development and new transportation infrastructure will spur additional jobs and residential demand.

“With [Highway 407] coming across, we have a lot of employment lands already zoned for different commercial and industrial uses, and we’re hoping that is going to entice people to come and open businesses along there. That will also attract more people,” said Chapman.

City programs and facilities manager Sandy Black told NRU that the city is reaching out to citizens using a variety of methods, including telephone household surveys, online and hardcopy surveys and focus groups.

“We have engaged a consultant, Monteith Brown Planning Consultants, and it will be preparing a report that will go back to council and the library board. It will comment on current facilities, facilities [developed] within the next five years, what we will need to renovate, rejuvenate, over the next 10 years and the next 20 years, basically to the year 2031.”