Niagara-on-the-Lake Parks and Recreation Masterplan
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Niagara-on-the-Lake is a historic, culturally rich, and tourism-driven municipality balancing the needs of a growing and increasingly diverse population with the preservation of its heritage spaces and expansion of parkland. The Town provides recreation and leisure opportunities for many non-residents, in addition to activities offered to the permanent population. A strong culture of volunteerism also works to support the Town’s existing recreation offerings.
The Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake engaged thinc design’s consultant team to develop an innovative Parks and Recreation Masterplan to guide the direction of parks and recreation services over 10 years to 2035. The Plan is intended to inform future investment and development of facilities, programs, events, parks, open spaces, and other recreation amenities.
Our methodology prioritized meaningful community engagement using statistically representative telephone surveys, online platforms, in-person public information centres, and extensive stakeholder interviews. This ensured the final roadmap accurately reflected community values while remaining grounded in usage data and demographic trends.
Among its 128 actionable recommendations, the Plan identifies a short-term need to expand the NOTL Community Centre by adding a gymnasium and related facilities, and recommended a study to eventually the Town’s two existing arenas with a consolidated double-pad facility. Our work also included setting parkland provision goals, analyzing parkland policies, proposing a five-typology park classification system, and assessing community need for new and improved park amenities. To support physical improvements, the Plan outlines several policy and service delivery updates, recommends implementing new revenue-generating initiatives, and increasing user fees in the short term to offset service costs.
