2018 Citizen's Report

PARKS, RECREATION & CULTURE

This Division is responsible for the management of City parks, facilities, recreation programming, arts, culture and community engagement. It has been a very busy year for the Division.

In April of 2018 the pool, change rooms and lobby of the Maple Ridge Leisure Centre closed so work could begin on a complete overhaul of the pool mechanical systems, leisure pool, hot tub and overall accessibility. This $10 million project will see this beloved social hub of our community reengineered for a better customer experience from the time you enter the facility until you walk in the new beach entrance into the vortex or under the newly renovated waterfall feature. To keep the community engaged during the renovations, citizens are taken behind-the-scenes through an ongoing series of videos called ‘Pool Talk’. Countless messages from citizens and stakeholders via social media have been received throughout the project providing facility staff with valuable feedback as program planning begins. In May of 2018, the City opened the new Karina LeBlanc Field at Merkley Park (see page 34) and Lion’s Park which features a bike and scooter track. Work also began on the new Blaney Hamlet Park in Silver Valley and the synthetic turf field at Samuel Robertson Technical High School was re-carpeted. There’s so much more. The City also reopened the historic Haney House after a heritage restoration and held a sod turning event for a major renovation of the facilities at Telosky Stadium

where there will be two new synthetic turf fields built, realignment of the baseball diamonds and the construction of a new field house with accessible washrooms. This is just some of the work from the City’s $50 million Recreation Infrastructure program, the single largest investment in sports and recreation facilities in 25 years in Maple Ridge. In the midst of all these incredible capital projects, more than 70 festivals and events took place in our community in 2018. These events could not happen without the incredible volunteers who pour their heart and soul in to providing the community with festivals and celebrations for all ages.

Citizen’s Report 2018

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