The Town of Osoyoos will be be holding another community stakeholder meeting – similar to the one held three years ago to develop a long-term plan to develop Gyro Park – to develop a community Parks and Trails Master Plan.

Alain Cunningham, the town’s director of planning and development services, received unanimous support from Mayor Sue McKortoff and members of town council to release a Request for Proposals (RFP) on May 13 to develop an Osoyoos Parks and Trails Master Plan.

The RFP will be advertised in the Osoyoos Times, the Town of Osoyoos website and BC Bid.

The Parks and Trails Master Plan was included in council’s approved 2015 budget, said Cunningham.

“As described in the RFP introduction, the plan will be prepared with input from a stakeholder charette planning process and submitted to council for adoption as a secondary sectoral plan under our Official Community Plan (OCP),” said Cunningham. “The new plan will provide guidance for investing in the acquisition and development of an integrated system of parks and trails to serve diverse community and visitor needs in the future.

“The selected consultant will build on the work already completed under part of the town’s 2014 Community Services Master Plan relating to parks, open spaces and trails.”

Senior town administration wanted all members of council to review the RFP and provide comments before officially releasing the document next week, said Cunningham.

“We would really appreciate any comments you might have on the process for involving stakeholders, including council itself, and members of the public,” he said.

Coun. Jim King volunteered to sit on the town’s Parks and Trails Study Co-Ordination Committee.

A similar community stakeholder meeting (charette) was held back in 2012 to set a course and priorities for the long-term development of Gyro Park. One of the most important projects that came out of that meeting was a decision to remove the former parking lot and develop the Gyro Park Plaza, which is now under construction and expected to be completed later this summer.

A parks and trails master plan will assist the town in keeping up with its current and future needs, allow town leaders to budget its resources efficiently and effectively, meet provincial best practices for justifying and making best use of parkland development funds, while also allowing the participation in a regional trails planning and development strategy, said Cunningham.

Council has budgeted $25,000 of its 2015 Resort Municipality Funding for this project along with another $10,000 coming from reserves, he said.

The RFP closes on June 15 and a report will be provided to council for selecting a contractor to prepare the parks and trails master plan.

The charette will be scheduled after September 15 to avoid summer season conflicts with local business owners and other local residents, said Cunningham.

“A quality integrated system of parks and trails will serve evolving community recreational and health needs, act as an economic driver for attracting new residents, help grow our economic base and add to our resort community assets,” said Cunningham.

McKortoff said the process of involving all key community stakeholders as was done with Gyro Park proved very successful. She has every confidence the upcoming charette relating to developing a long-term parks and trails master plan will be equally successful.

Coun. C. J. Rhodes said he would like to have a representative from the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) involved in this process as that organization has been very successful in developing its own parks and trails plan.

“They seem to have a wealth of knowledge on this subject,” he said.

Cunningham agreed and said he’s confident the RDOS will be involved in the upcoming community stakeholder process.

Community leaders from across the South Okanagan share a common goal to develop a comprehensive and detailed parks and trail system across the region, said Cunningham.

KEITH LACEY

Osoyoos Times