We will present the final draft of Places, Kitchener’s Parks Master Plan, to Kitchener City Council on May 12, 2025. The report is now available.

Kitchener’s Parks Master Plan focuses on the quality of park experiences and was informed by an extensive period of rich engagement with the public. The engagement findings highlight the value and importance of welcoming and connected parks and open space systems for the community.

The plan establishes a bold vision and 10-year framework for developing a parks and open space system that is responsive to an evolving social, environmental, and economic context.

The staff recommendations fall into four themes:

• Parks for Everyone: The City’s role in fostering a sense of belonging in parks is essential. This group includes recommendations that have a primary focus on inclusion and belonging for all.
• Connecting Park Experiences: This group of recommendations focuses on enhancing the parks and open space system by looking at novel ways to create park experiences outside of traditional park spaces while prioritizing a balance of park uses in existing parks.
• Planning Parks for the Future: Recommendations in this group are focused on the long-term sustainability of parks and open spaces through planning for community growth and changing demographics, considering the longevity and environmental impact of infrastructure investments, reviewing emergency response protocols, and more.
• Responsive Park Spaces: This group of recommendations involves thinking creatively about park programming by examining how parks, trails, and open spaces are currently enjoyed and how they might evolve to adapt to future needs.

Some of the key initiatives aligned with these recommendations include:

• Use a park network approach to improve park spaces in our neighbourhoods. Instead of upgrading one park at a time, we will make upgrades and introduce features across a network of several parks when feasible to better serve the community. This approach is responsive to our various neigbhourhood communities, allows us to incorporate other strategic goals in our projects, and optimizes financial investments and operational efforts.
• Employing engagement-informed design approaches for our parks by seeking community input on designs for new parks and park improvements. The master plan formally commits to continuing this approach, which is already being successfully employed on park projects.
• Introduce new parks in non-traditional spaces to create park experiences across the city. The Gaukel Pocket Park opened in the heart of Downtown Kitchener last year exemplifies this approach.
• Strengthen relationships with the development community to strategically grow the parks and open space system.
• Invest and improve access to well-used community infrastructure in parks, such as expanding the city’s splashpad network, use of rubberized surfacing in playgrounds and creating new community gardens.

The full staff report is now available to view on the Community and Infrastructure Services Committee page.