Chestermere residents provide valuable input for off-leash area

Chestermere, AB – This past spring, City staff began looking for input from residents about the current off-leash space, located at the northwest end of Chestermere Lake. Thank you to the survey respondents and workshop attendees for the amazing feedback that we received.
“We wanted to gather information from users so that we can better design current and future park spaces with the needs of the community in mind,” said Katelyn Richards, Community Recreation Coordinator with the City of Chestermere.
The City of Chestermere’s Parks and Recreation team began an off-leash area/dog park management study to further assess the needs of users and the design elements of current and future off-leash spaces within Chesterrmere. The purpose of the study is to make shared park spaces more functional and enjoyable for all users.
In March 2016, an online survey was created and distributed to the community to collect information about concerns, needs and expectations for the off-leash space in Chestermere. The information collected from the survey was used to create off-leash workshops. The purpose of the workshops was to engage residents in constructive conversations about their concerns with the current off-leash area, their desires for future off-leash areas and to encourage the development of ideas and solutions together.
“The online survey had 463 respondents, and input from both dog owners and non-dog owners which was great,” said Richards. “The main concerns from the survey were park cleanliness and safety on the pathway, which was used to engage workshop attendees.”
After consultation with the public, Parks and Recreation staff will take all the feedback into consideration. Staff are consulting with parks and landscape experts to evaluate the space and develop recommendations.
Consultation with the public and experts will help to provide the City with creating policies, and other considerations for the space and future spaces in Chestermere. In the fall, City staff will present recommendations provided from this consultation process to Council.
Full findings of the survey and workshops can be found at www.chestermere.ca/offleash