The future of parks and recreation on the Sunshine Coast is coming under the lens in the coming months as the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) has approved a request for proposal (RFP) to begin a parks master plan.
The SCRD board approved the RFP Thursday night (Oct. 28) and will now ask consulting firms to bid on the ambitious project of planning the priorities for parks and recreation services on the Coast for the next five years.
Recreation manager Carleen McDowell said this was the first time the SCRD has combined parks and recreation planning into one document to make plans around community partnerships, the governance model, trail connectivity, efficiencies within the facilities and possible improvements. The winning consulting firm will also be charged with the task of looking at the Coast's two oldest recreation facilities - the Sunshine Coast Arena in Sechelt and Gibsons Pool - and determine what their future holds.
"We'll also be looking at the feasibilities of our older recreation facilities and how their lifespan fits into the plan, how long they will still be around, things we need to do to update them to keep them going forward, or maybe the recommendation may be to do new facilities or focus on the newer facilities," McDowell said.
Bidders for the master plan contract will be evaluated based on their corporate experience and knowledge of the community, project team competence, past performance, proposal and fees, but the content of their report will largely be directed by public input, McDowell said.
"There will be a community-based survey, community open houses, consultation processes, opportunities to appear as a delegation in front of our recreation parks and services advisory committee, and we'll be taking e-mail comments, as well," she added.
The board hopes to select the winning bid in the spring, in time to include it in the 2011 budget. The SCRD hopes to have the final master plan report by February 2012.
