Vision 2020 - City of Oshawa

P URPOSE
The Parks, Recreation and Culture Strategy will serve as Oshawa’s blueprint document to
guide the actions of Council and staff in the provision of parks, recreation and culture
services and facilities for the next fifteen years.
By establishing a long range ‘big picture’ look ahead at where this service area could be by
the year 2020, and by identifying priorities and strategies for the next five years, Oshawa
will be positioned to become an efficient, proactive and responsive provider and facilitator.
S TRATEGY PROCESS
The Strategy, which began in April 2004, was developed with the assistance of an outside
consultant, an internal coordinator and a staff Technical Advisory Steering Committee.
Essential to the project was consultation with stakeholder groups and residents.
The consultation process included a household survey, eleven focused forums
(four geographically-oriented forums) and workshops (City Council, parks and recreation
staff, major leisure providers, the arts community, youth, neighbourhood associations,
Accessibility Committee), an ongoing call for submissions, the project website
(with on-line survey), two sessions with the ‘visioning team’ and a city-wide community
forum. In all, nearly 600 people were involved in the consultation program.
“If you are planning
for
a year, sow rice;
if you are planning
for
a decade, plant trees;
if you are planning
for
a lifetime, educate
people”
Chinese Proverb
The results of the community consultation were combined with the technical analysis,
demographic and leisure trends, and best practices research to produce a draft Strategy. The
Strategy was further refined through an internal staff review process and was approved by
City Council in November 2005.
Parks, Recreation & Culture Strategy Vision 2020
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