Seniors Recreation Programming Engagement
The District created a steering group of residents aged 55 and older to develop ideas and a public survey about how to best deliver recreation programming across the District’s three recreation facilities.
Through the survey process, the District and the steering group worked collaboratively to seek feedback from the community on the ideas developed by the steering group.
The survey was open from September 15 - October 4, 2021.
Background
The Westwinds building is expected to open in Fall 2022. It is located at 38275 Third Ave, directly behind the Chieftain Centre downtown. Please watch this video to see what the new space in the Westwinds building will look like.
The space available for recreation and culture programming in the building consists of a multi-purpose room (2413 sq. ft.) and a fitness/rehab room (1466 sq. ft.). The multi-purpose room offers a large space which will be suitable for a variety of activities and programming. The fitness/rehab room will be equipped with fitness equipment to support physical activity programming for residents aged 55 and older.
The District has leased the space daily from 9am until 2pm for use by Squamish residents aged 55 and older. The space is located on the main floor of the building and is close to a bus route. There will also be 18 visitor parking stalls available, two accessible parking stalls, and two drop off parking stalls. Additional street parking is available nearby.
The introduction of the Westwinds building presents a unique opportunity to evaluate current programming available to Squamish residents aged 55 and older, the locations these programs are best suited to, and to plan for new programs.
Between the Westwinds Seniors Hub, Brennan Park Recreation Centre, and the 55 Activity Centre, the District will soon have three facilities to offer recreational programming for residents aged 55 and older.
Each of the three facilities offer unique equipment and physical space. The District is now working to determine how to best utilize use these facilities in order to best deliver recreation programming for all residents aged 55 and older.
The programming model is being developed with consultation and input from residents aged 55 and older across Squamish.
Timeline
The District was excited to work with a steering group of committed residents aged 55 and older to determine how to best deliver a wide-range of recreation programming across our three facilities (Brennan Park Recreation Centre, The 55 Activity Centre, and the Westwinds Building).
September 2020: A Westwinds Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was presented to the Committee of the Whole.
March 2021: An Engagement Strategy was presented to the Committee of the Whole.
April - May 2021: An open call was launched for residents aged 55+ to apply to participate in the steering group.
June - September 2021: The steering group participated in three meetings to develop initial ideas and themes on the recreational programming model for people aged 55 and older.
Fall 2021: The District shared a survey with the broader community of residents aged 55 and older to collect feedback on the ideas and themes developed by the steering group.
October 26, 2021: An engagement summary and recommendations on recreation programming were presented to Council.