West Kelowna adopts new Master Plans for Parks and Recreational Trails

The City of West Kelowna is pleased to announce the adoption of two crucial strategic plans that will shape the future of our community’s outdoor spaces: the Parks Master Plan and the Recreational Trails Master Plan.

After a comprehensive two-year process involving extensive public engagement and technical analysis, these adopted plans represent a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to enhance and expand our parks and recreational trail networks. Read the Parks Master Plan.

Engaging with our community during these processes was vital to understanding current community needs, priorities, and ideas. Thank you to everyone who participated and shared their ideas.

Find out more about the Recreational Trails Master Plan.

What we did:

Updating the Plan

Since the Parks Master Plan was last updated in 2013, West Kelowna has grown, the world has changed, and the community has shared new ideas. This process updated the plan to reflect the West Kelowna of today and provide guidance for the decade and beyond.

The diagram below summarizes the three phases that guided the development of the Parks Master Plan and the activities within each phase.

• Read the Parks Master Plan
• See highlights of community input

Why It Matters:

The City is committed to maintaining and enhancing the quality of our parks to serve community members of all ages and abilities, while respecting the natural beauty that surrounds West Kelowna.

To support this commitment, the Parks Master Plan will guide the development and enhancement of our parks to ensure they meet the needs of all residents. It focuses on upgrading existing facilities, creating new park spaces, and ensuring that our parks are accessible, inclusive, and sustainable.

Understanding what our residents value is integral to current needs, priorities and ideas. The planning process incorporated community feedback alongside technical analysis to ensure that the final recommendations reflect what matters most to our residents.

Technical Analysis was also essential in shaping the plan. This included evaluating environmental impacts, current usage patterns, and future growth to ensure feasibility and sustainability.

What We Heard:

Through two rounds of public engagement, we gathered insights on priorities for the future of parks in West Kelowna. Priorities and themes are identified below.

• View more highlights from Rounds 1 and 2 of community input

What it Means:

Plan Recommendations

To support informed, systematic progress towards our goals, the Parks Master Plan outlines a set of short, medium, and long-term recommendations and strategies for implementing the ideas, values and priorities generated through the planning process. These recommendations are provided for Council, staff, partners, and the community to consider within the context of ongoing community planning and budgeting.

Highlights

Each of these recommendations plays a crucial role in shaping the future of our parks. For more details on each recommendation, please click the links to view the specific sections of the report.

1. Parkland Quantity and Quality Management Recommendations

This section provides recommendations on how and where the overall parks network could grow over the coming decade, along with steps that can be taken to maintain the quality of the existing parks.

View all Parkland Quantity and Quality Management Recommendations

2. Park Improvement Recommendations

Capital investment recommendations to improve or develop existing parks and add new amenities to fill identified gaps at various locations across the community.

View all Park Improvement Recommendations

3. Location-Specific Recommendations

Potential upgrades specific to key parks in the network—specifically larger community, athletic or waterfront parks.

View all Location-Specific Recommendations

4. Service Delivery Recommendations

Ideas for developing policies, planning initiatives, management strategies and information distribution that apply to the entire park system.

View all Service Delivery Recommendations

5. Funding Strategies

Consideration for accessing funding for parks system development and improvement.

View all Funding Strategies Recommendations

6. Monitoring and Review

Steps for maintaining the Parks Master Plan.

View all Monitoring and Review Recommendations