The Future of Muskoseepi Park

I'm really impressed with how every time we do a survey on recreation the highest rated amenity Grande Prairie has is our urban park, Muskoseepi. The park was largely developed in the early 80's with money from a provincial urban parks program. (Probably one of the best programs the province has ever had if we judge by the success and longevity of the park it left behind!)

Today Muskoseepi stretches from one end of the city to the other and brings together a wide variety of activities and features. The city is doing some planning ahead and developing a Muskoseepi Park Master Plan which will guide the future development and expansion of the park. As with all of our master plans we take community input seriously as part of this process there have been surveys and public input sessions. Before the consultants go away to draw up the final plan based on what they've heard you get one more chance to have your say:

What: Muskoseepi Park Master Plan Review
Where: Muskoseepi Park Pavilion
When: Wednesday, December 3rd - 6:30pm

News Release:

Resident Voice On Muskoseepi Park Future Encouraged

City residents have one further chance to have their say into the future of Muskoseepi Park.

An open house to review the Muskoseepi Park Master Plan is set for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in the Muskoseepi Park Pavilion. This is the last opportunity for residents to provide input prior completion of the plan.

“The first round of public consultation and stakeholder meetings provided valuable feedback and we want to ensure we’ve given residents as much opportunity as possible to participate in this important process,” says Operations Manager Laurie Barry. “A second open house will validate the goals and recommendations are as accurate as possible regarding the community’s vision of this park for the future.”

Muskoseepi Park includes Bear Creek North, the Reservoir, Crystal Lake, Centennial Park, the Trail System, and Bear Creek South.

“We are grateful to all community members who took the time to respond to the public survey,” says Barry. “This input gives us a very good understanding of the issues, ideas, needs and wishes to better meet the needs of our community. This Park is an extremely valuable resource in the City and we want to maximize its potential through the Master Plan.”

Information on the survey feedback will be provided at the Open House.

All the goals will be collected from the public input and these will be formalized into recommendations within the Master Plan. The document is due to be finalized in April for City Council approval.

SW Bypass Some Changes Made

I just got back from attending an invite only preview of the public open house that is being held tonight for the SW Bypass.

I was pleased to see that changes had been made and now none of the three options for the road alignment go through the Wapiti Nordic Ski area. That's good news and it looks like 'the system' worked just like it is supposed to. People saw something they didn't like, provided feedback to both the consultants and the government and changes were made.

It was a little funny actually, during the opening of the presentation Hasan, the lead consultant from ISL, said "We were silly enough to show the road running through the Wapiti Nordic Ski Trails in the first revision - you'll notice that that has been changed in these drafts."

The City's other concern, addressing a second crossing over the Wapiti river, was echoed by a number of people. It seemed as though the general consensus in the room was that it would only make sense to consider the option that I posted on previously. Unfortunately, it seems as though the study that ISL was hired by the province to do had set parameters: Connect highway 43 to highway 40 at some point south of the city and north of the river.

Apparently there is another study commissioned by the province that will look at the portion of highway 40 starting from about the Wapiti Ski Trails and extending south across the river. Would seem to me to make sense to do both of those studies at the same time - maybe a little more efficient?

In the end it sounds like this road is a long way off anyhow, the province wants to have an alignment designed so they can start protecting the land that it will require. In essence that means keeping people from building subdivisions where the road will go so there aren't conflicts in the future.

Still, with these kind of things it's important that we get out and make sure the design is what we want as a community. Once these studies are written and a "preferred option" is chosen it can have an impact even if they don't bring our the bulldozers the next day.

SW Bypass

I made a note of the open house that the province is holding to review the functional sudy of the "South West Road". I thought I should post a picture of the alignment that the City is suggesting.

I received this note from our public works department today.

"FYI – Administration has gone on record (both by formal letter and officially noted at the meetings), to say that we believe that the best alignment for this Resource Road is to go as directly south of the Highway #43 Bypass as possible, with a second Bridge Crossing across the Wapiti River, rather than creating an east-west road that parallels the existing Correction Line."

From what I understand this suggestion still isn't being considered by the folks running the study, because they don't consider it to be a part of the terms of reference of the study.

Here's the reasons I think it should be considered:

1. Provides a 2nd bridge across the Wapiti. There's lots of heavy traffic on that thing and safety is a big concern, a second bridge is going to be needed eventually and having these two appart would reduce the amount of traffic on highway 40 north of the river.

2. Protects the sensitive Wapiti Nortdic Ski trails. I mentioned that in the previos post.

If you agree with me make sure you make it out to the open house. If they don't talk about this idea - bring it up.

What:Southwest Resource Road Functional Planning Study
When:Thursday, May 3rd - from 4:00 to 8:00pm
Where:Holiday Inn (9816 - 107th Street) Grande Prairie

Open House

What:Southwest Resource Road Functional Planning Study
When:Thursday, May 3rd - from 4:00 to 8:00pm
Where:Holiday Inn (9816 - 107th Street) Grande Prairie

Why: The province has been planning what is essentially a southwest bypass route for the city. It will go from highway 43 south and connect with highway 40. It has been mentioned in the media and many residents have raised concerns about the possible destruction of the Wapiti Nordic Ski trails. This is everyone's chance to make sure that the planning of this bypass route takes into account the need to protect this sensitive natural area and communit asset.

Last time we saw the new Minister of Infrastructure I told him about the concerns and asked him to take these into account. The City's 50 year growth plan actually suggests intersection at the same point on highway 43 but going straight south accross the river with a new bridge instead of bending back to meet highway 40. That little bidge already sees too much traffic adding an additional one only makes sense.

So, pass it on to anyone you know who might be interested and get out there on May 3rd!