City Council is expected to update Owen Sound's Harrison Park Master Plan this year. The process began last year, and included public feedback. Staff will use that information to help develop priorities and an action plan for Harrison Park.
Recreation Director Pam Coulter said a record 965 people responded to the survey to share their opinions on the park, which is a testament to just how special the area is to residents.
"Each year there's over 150,000 cars that enter the park and more people coming in, you know, on foot on the trails. And so there's a lot of people that visit and there's a lot of different reasons that people come to the park," said Coulter. "But I think overall, just what came through in the survey, was how special and important the park is to the community and people that visit."
She pointed out people really enjoy the park's heritage features.
"Although people had lots of ideas of things that they would like to see, there were so many people that said they love the park just the way it is and you know, the appreciation for the tree cover and the, you know, the forested areas that are so close to the busiest places and the trails and the winding, narrow roads," explained Coulter. "The trees and the forest are really important to people and that shone through in the survey. Plus the stone buildings, the stone walls along the streams, and the gardens. So those were things that people really indicated their appreciation of."
The large centrally located park also features a pool, skating rink, campgrounds, heritage cabin, gardens, the Putt N Paddle, basketball and tennis courts.
"It's really connected to the River District to the north along the Sydenham River, along Second Avenue and then to the south to the lands owned by the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority." she added. "It's big on its own and then it's so connected to those other important locations too."
She said people love to see birds and waterfowl.
"But next steps really is to engage an expert to help us be informed in terms of the birds and waterfowl. So that will be really important," she continued.
Coulter said updating the master plan will optimize spending and operations at the park, and ensure it meets the needs of the public.
"We'll develop sort of actions and as I mentioned, we'll sort of look at actions both from an operating and a capital perspective for each of those nine sort of functional areas in the park," she explained. "We'll bring those back to committee get their sort of feedback on them, are we on the right track? And then we'll go away and come back with a draft master plan for committee."