Written by Noel Edey Wednesday, Aug 04 2021, 2:30 PM
The future Horse Creek Sports Park took a small step forward last night, Aug. 3, with the approval of a revamped concept plan by the Cochrane Parks and Recreation Committee.
The elimination of a Southland Transportation operation from the landscape meant the park would increase in size and required the committee to examine ways to best meet a wide range of community interests.
The plan includes space for quad ball diamonds, rugby, soccer pitches, trail network, clubhouse, lookout, linear park, basketball, outdoor skating rinks, multi-purpose courts plus a playground and plenty of parking.
It now goes to town council for consideration at a future meeting.
Tara McFadden, nonvoting chair of the Parks and Recreation Committee, believes having the land exclusively set aside for sports and recreation is a real win.
The committee has heard from many recreational and sporting groups in need of space to grow their sports.
“We’ve got some great athletes in town who really want to be able to take their sport to next level, whether that’s regional or provincial hosting. One of the things we really work through in the design was to make sure that the site itself was overall about community and community level of play, but that we would have some feature fields so that those different sports would be able to compete and be able to host at a higher level.”
In the end, she says it’s all about providing a place where Cochranites can come together to recreate and celebrate being part of the community.
She emphasizes it was only a small step. Now, town council will have to make difficult decisions on financing, phasing, and governance.
“Nothing gets done without the first step, and so this is one of the early steps along the trail. I was really excited to be part of it and looking forward to seeing council’s feedback on this and council’s direction on how we take those next ones.”
She admires the dedication of the committee members to this project and other undertakings to increase recreational opportunities in the community.
“We’re super fortunate in the knowledge, passion, and commitment level of the community members on this committee. I mean, to meet on an August night to talk about planning shows a lot of commitment.”
