By Lara Fominoff @fomsy1 on Twitter

City Council adopts new River Valley Parks Master Plan

Aug 29, 2017 | 12:52 PM

LETHBRIDGE – One day, Lethbridge could be home to a whitewater river rafting park. There could be boat launches, a weir by-pass, more biking and skateboarding facilities, improved trail connectivity and a host of other improvements in the city’s River Valley.
 
On Monday (Aug. 29), Lethbridge City Council adopted the River Valley Parks Master Plan, three years in the making.
 
Parks Planning Manager Ryan Carriere says it provides a framework for the future of parks in the river valley aimed at sustainable management and nature-based recreational opportunities, but also provides a long-term strategy for natural resource protection.
 
“It’s really important because sometimes what happens is that if there isn’t a plan in place, and something… some company comes… maybe an ATCO or something like that, they can put in a utility or something that might damage the integrity of the landscape if you don’t have a plan in place. You can’t defend against that.”
 
Carriere explains that the Lethbridge River Valley is the third largest urban park in Canada, covering nearly 4000 hectares, and there are 15 main recreational areas or “nodes” where the majority of people spend their time.
 
During the consultation process that began in 2014, more than 2,700 public comments were collected through online and telephone surveys, open houses and stakeholder meetings.
 
Some of the top priorities outlined by the public in the plan include:
 

• Establishing environmental preservation areas
• Building accessible river craft amenities
• Improving pathway connectivity
• Expanding the River Valley parkland
• Engaging organizations

 The plan does note that there should be immediate or short term actions undertaken, including improving existing trails, signage, and wayfinding, repairing damaged infrastructure and restoring natural functioning in ecologically sensitive areas.
 
Some of the moderate term goals include improving trail connectivity, and long term action includes expanding the parks system into new areas, providing better and more exciting aquatic based opportunities, like building a whitewater river rafting park in Botterill Bottom Park.
 
Carriere explains that while the plan lays out a number of priorities and details, it all requires a budget commitment from the city to implement any of the recommendations.
 
“We don’t really have a schedule. In every one of those 15 nodes, we have a concept plan for there. Whether we’re building parking lots or benches or other amenities, we’ve detailed what the cost might be for those. But we currently don’t have any funding and so any funding that would come, would come from future CIP or operating budgets.”
 
Total cost for all of the improvements in the plan is more than $28,000,000 dollars.