Recreation, Parks and Culture Master Plan - Town of Ajax

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Recreation, Parks & Culture Facilities Action Plans: The Town should engage community groups interested in the establishment, general maintenance and ongoing operation when considering additional off‐leash dog parks; this includes the establishment of an appropriate cost‐sharing agreement. Priority for any future off‐leash parks should be given to sites in the eastern areas of Ajax. Outdoor Skating Areas The provision of outdoor skating venues is one way to alleviate pressures on arena demand, as it facilitates public skating and pickup shinny opportunities. The Town offers a neighbourhoodbased outdoor rink program which has been met with relative success. To augment this program, the multi‐use court template currently employed by the Town can be used to frame an outdoor rink in the winter season. The Town should explore the possibility of providing artificial ice surfaces at selected multi‐use courts in order to determine their feasibility and cost‐effectiveness in the context of evolving climatic conditions. Many municipalities have also developed skating paths in recent years to provide a different venue for ice skating. Skating paths are generally considered to be Town‐wide facilities due to the cost involved (they are generally artificial ice surfaces), thus overall provision is more important than geographic accessibility. Development of a skating path could be located at Sportsplex Park, Greenwood Conservation Area, the Town Hall site and/or Rotary Park. Opportunity may also exist to utilize existing trail or pathway routes as skating paths in the winter months. Given the investment associated with artificial ice needed for a skating path, and with no set targets for the provision of these facilities, it would be premature to develop an outdoor skating path at this time without undertaking further study. Action Plans: The Town should explore the provision of artificial ice surfaces at appropriate multi‐use court sites and strategic park locations. As part of this analysis, the Town should undertake a detailed assessment of the costs involved with constructing a skating path with artificial ice system at a future Community or Town‐wide Park. Should the benefits and usage be deemed to outweigh the costs, additional outdoor artificial ice surfaces should be explored at future locations. Other Facilities The Town of Ajax may be pressed for additional facilities which are not discussed as part of the scope of the Recreation, Parks & Culture Master Plan (i.e. BMX tracks, specialized arts venues, etc.) and, therefore, the Town must be prepared to appropriately respond to such requests. When requests are brought forward for investment in nontraditional, emerging and/or non‐core municipal services, the Town should evaluate the need for these pursuits on a case‐bycase basis by considering factors such as costs, partnerships, ability of existing facilities to accommodate new services, etc. Action Plans: The Town of Ajax should respond to requests for facilities presently not part of the core mandate on a case‐by‐case basis by evaluating the municipality’s role in providing the service in relation to quantified market demand and cost‐effectiveness of such services, while also identifying potential strategies to address long‐term need for such requests should a sufficient level of demand be expressed. MONTEITH BROWN PLANNING CONSULTANTS in association with Tucker‐Reid & Associates & The JF Group April 2008 Page 41
Recreation, Parks & Culture Facilities 3.5 Parkland Needs Parkland Classification The Town of Ajax Official Plan defines a classification of parks according to size, types of uses allowed, service radii, etc. These classifications include: • Parkettes • Neighbourhood Parks • Community Parks • Town‐wide Parks • Open Space With the exception of the Open Space designation, all other classifications contain detailed definitions. Although the locations of Open Spaces are identified through Schedule B of the Official Plan, adding a definition of these areas should be considered at the time of the next Official Plan Review in order to ensure consistency in the document. Action Plans: The Town should incorporate a definition of Open Space Lands into Section 2.2.5a of the Official Plan. This definition should encompass all lands that may contribute to the passive leisure opportunities in the open space system, excluding woodlots, valley lands and other hazard lands. Parkland Needs Section 2.2.5 of the Official Plan encourages a provision standard of 3.18 hectares of Town Parks and Open Space lands per 1,000 residents; note that this standard does not include lands designated as Environmental Protection or Environmental Resource Overlay. As shown in Table 3, the Town is providing parkland and open space at a ratio of 5.2 hectares per 1,000 residents (based upon an estimated 2007 population of 93,553). Table 3: Summary of Parkland by Designation Parkland Designation # of Sites* Supply (ha) Avg. Park Size (ha) Per Capita Ratio (2007 pop. = 93,553) Parkette 14 3.21 0.23 0.03 ha / 1,000 Neighbourhood 31 77.85 2.51 0.8 ha / 1,000 Community 6 40.15 6.69 0.4 ha / 1,000 Town Wide 5 76.65 15.33 0.8 ha / 1,000 Open Space 22 292.25 13.28 3.1 ha / 1,000 Total 78 490.11 6.28 5.2 ha / 1,000 Environmental 7 81.66 11.67 0.9 ha / 1,000 Protection** * Number of sites reflects the number of parcels/polygons in the Town’s GIS database ** Environmental Protection lands are not included in the total Per Capita Ratio Source: Town of Ajax, 2007 Many municipalities in the GTA have found that a provision level between 2.0 and 2.2 hectares per 1,000 residents is enough to support active parkland needs, which would also accommodate major recreation facilities such as playing fields, community centres, etc. If the household survey is any indication, 93% of respondents are satisfied in some form with municipal parks with athletic fields and playgrounds (i.e. active parks), thus the Town’s present level of service appears to be satisfactory and should be maintained at a similar level throughout the planning period. It would be beneficial for the Town to work towards provision targets specific to each classification of parkland. Doing so will ensure that each classification of parkland is provided at an MONTEITH BROWN PLANNING CONSULTANTS in association with Tucker‐Reid & Associates & The JF Group April 2008 Page 42
Page 2 and 3: Town of Ajax RECREATION, PARKS & CU
Page 4 and 5: Table of Contents Table of Contents
Page 6 and 7: Executive Summary Executive Summary
Page 8 and 9: Executive Summary • Expansion of
Page 10 and 11: Strategic Direction Chapter 1: Stra
Page 12 and 13: Strategic Direction 1.5 Master Plan
Page 14 and 15: Strategic Direction Goal 3: Facilit
Page 16 and 17: Strategic Direction Goal 7: Enhance
Page 18 and 19: Master Planning Context Chapter 2:
Page 20 and 21: Master Planning Context 2.2.2 House
Page 22 and 23: Master Planning Context 2.2.4 Key I
Page 24 and 25: Master Planning Context activity an
Page 26 and 27: Recreation, Parks & Culture Facilit
Page 58 and 59: Service Delivery Chapter 4: Service
Page 60 and 61: Service Delivery The following Serv
Page 62 and 63: Service Delivery Criteria for Succe
Page 64 and 65: Implementation Chapter 5: Implement
Page 66 and 67: Implementation 5.2.2 Facility‐Spe
Page 68 and 69: Implementation ID # Action Plan Ran
Page 80 and 81: Implementation 5.2.4 Actions Requir
Page 82 and 83: Implementation 5.3 Capital Costing
Page 84 and 85: Implementation Table 4c: Multi‐Us
Page 86: Implementation Table 5c: Other Requ

Recreation, Parks and Culture Master Plan - Town of Ajax

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