While it is not surprising, it is pretty definitive. Squamish residents want better recreation facilities.
District of Squamish council members were recently updated about public feedback on the upcoming budget at a recent committee of the whole meeting.
On Nov. 28, council members heard about five themes that came about through about 100 public comments on the proposed $167.8-million 2024 budget.
Ultimately, council unanimously voted to receive the report while there is still an opportunity for council to provide further feedback on Dec. 5.
The municipal director of communications, Christina Moore, shared themes that stood out from public feedback: investment in recreation facilities, active transportation, infrastructure improvements, accessibility, and developer contributions alongside the impact on taxpayers.
Of the input the District did receive, improving recreation facilities received the most feedback compared with the other themes.
“We saw about 38% of the input reflecting support for the upgraded recreation facilities,” said Moore.
This includes the desire for a “vastly improved and modernized” recreation centre and the addition of another ice sheet and pool, according to the District report. Moore shared that the recreation facilities theme has become more of a priority in the last five years, with the topic taking the top spot in public feedback for the last three budgets.
Input in the active transportation theme included adding sidewalks and improvements to school routes in general, along with improvements to various specific streets. Infrastructure improvement input included ensuring infrastructure can support and sustain growth, adding another entrance into downtown, diking worries downtown and parking solutions.
Active transportation and infrastructure improvements have been among the feedback themes the last five years. However, accessibility and developer contributions were newer to the recent feedback themes.
“Accessibility has really come to the forefront this year,” Moore told council.
Outside of these central themes, there were other pieces of feedback offered, which varied from regional transit to supporting vulnerable residents and youth.
Coun. Andrew Hamilton said he was “a little bit surprised” to not see more feedback on the proposed 9% tax increase.
“I would have expected to see more concern about that. But there we go, that's why we asked for feedback,” he said.
Council members briefly discussed the venue for the in-person event, which was at Howe Sound Secondary, and the online tools that were available to view aspects of the budget. A couple of councillors offered feedback that the online tools could have been more user-friendly and offered ideas for future in-person public events that may bring more people out to provide feedback.
“It's important to go to where the people are,” said Coun. Jenna Stoner. “To take the opportunity to touch point and interact with folks who otherwise might not engage in the budget process or know that the budget processes are even going on, I think, is a really valuable part of the engagement component.”
For more information about the public feedback, view the District report online from the Nov. 28 meeting agenda at squamish.ca.
