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During Quesnel City Council’s 2019 fall strategic planning
session we discussed at length the need to do better at connecting with
residents and ratepayers. Council felt we had a good story to tell about our
community transition strategies, but it was getting lost in social media
debates about discrete decisions we were making that had some people in the
community upset.
So, we decided that 2020 would be a year of consultation and more proactive
information sharing. We dubbed the initiative “Vision 2020” and staff began
planning for town halls and trade show events where we could enable residents
to learn more about both our strategies and all the initiatives we have
underway to achieve our vision for the community. Then along came COVID-19, negating our ability to hold large gatherings and
causing people to focus instead on this public health emergency.
Fast forward to this spring, and we thought the COVID-19 trendline was moving
in the right direction so we planned a September public event to showcase all
the investments we’ve made in the City and the various initiatives we have
underway to ensure we remain a resilient and sustainable community. Again,
the upswing in COVID-19 cases in the North caused us to cancel that in-person
community celebration.
Part of the planned fall event was the launch of our new online consultation
platform. Staff have been working on this engagement tool throughout the
summer and we hope it will be a great supplement to in-person consultations
and an interactive way for us to get feedback from the community on an
ongoing basis.
That new engagement platform was launched last Friday. Called “Let’s
Connect,” this tool will allow residents from both the City and the CRD to
give City staff and Council feedback on both current and planned projects and
initiatives.
The initial two projects we’re seeking feedback on is the creation of a
master plan for LeBourdais Park and our ongoing work to create more rental
units in Quesnel.
The LeBourdais Park master plan is needed to further incorporate this major
park into our “hosting precinct.” We’ve invested heavily in the new arena,
upgrades to the arena plaza, the new playground, and the Museum and Visitor’s
Centre building and parking lot. However, we’ve heard feedback that we need
to look at upgrading the spray park, create a trail from the Visitor’s Centre
directly to the riverfront trail and arena plaza, and upgrade the stage.
We’ve also had questions about whether the Rotary ball diamond is the best
use of this green space (it’s only used about 50-60 hours a year over a
six-week season).
With your feedback and insights, staff and Council intend to develop a master
plan for LeBourdais Park which will enable us to create more “shovel-ready”
projects that we can attract grant funding to complete.
The other initiative we’re seeking insights into is our need to create more
quality rental units in the City using our existing housing stock. This is an
ongoing project and we’re using the engagement tool to better inform the
public about these accessory dwellings and get feedback on how we can improve
this program.
It’s Council’s hope that residents and ratepayers will register for Let’s
Connect and begin giving us feedback on an ongoing basis so we can continue
to drive our transition strategy forward and ensure that our community
continues to be attractive to visitors, residents and investment as we go
through this transition period.
We hope you’ll connect with us!
https://letsconnectquesnel.ca
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