Places and Spaces: Kitchener's park and open space strategy

Interested in learning more about the Places and Spaces strategy? Join us at the Kitchener 2051 Block Party!

Saturday, Oct. 5

12 to 6 p.m.

Gaukel Block (44 Gaukel Street)

Join us for fun fall day with neighbours! There will be interactive activities for all ages, along with free food and entertainment. The Block Party kicks off an extensive community consultation on our new Official Plan, Kitchener 2051.

We’ll be there to talk about the Places and Spaces strategy and how it connects with the City’s official plan. Find our booth and have a chat with our team.

From 2021 to 2024, City of Kitchener’s Parks team set out to learn more about what you think makes a great park, to help shape the update of the Parks Master Plan.

Over 2400 City of Kitchener residents joined in these conversations with us. Whether you answered a survey, participated in a discussion, or filled out an online poll, we want to thank you for taking part in this important process to guide the future of City of Kitchener Parks!

Through a series of 32 group engagements, 16 online surveys, 10 ideas boards, 4 online polls and 13 follow up conversations, you let us know that you value inclusive, safe, accessible, environmentally responsible, and active parks.

We spent the last year holding our final community conversations and reviewing all the input we received. Overall, we learned that when it comes to Kitchener parks, what’s most important to residents is:

• Equity – Giving consideration to those who experience systemic barriers to participation
• Environmental sustainability – The importance of protecting, maintaining, and expanding open spaces, natural spaces and enacting climate mitigation measures
• Accessibility – Barrier-free access to park spaces, trails and features
• Safety – Feeling safe in parks during the day and night
• Inclusion – Feeling welcome in parks through access to park spaces and amenities
• Information – Sharing information about city parks and open spaces and creating learning opportunities within park spaces
• Health and wellbeing – Recognizing the physical, social, and mental health benefits of parks
• Partnerships – Developing thoughtful relationships and ongoing engagement with community members to create parks that reflect the needs and wants of residents

We are taking a more detailed summary of your valuable feedback and our recommendations to Kitchener City Council later this fall. These insights will also be carried forward into Kitchener 2051 – our new Official Plan project, to help shape the future of parks in Kitchener.

We have just released the last set of topics in our year of engagement about Kitchener parks! Your ideas and feedback will help us to complete our Places & Spaces strategy. The recommendations in that strategy will affect how Kitchener parks are built and maintained now and into the future.

We'd love to hear from you about: improving natural areas, maintaining parks, promoting food security, making space for alternative sports, and improving skatepark facilities.

Answer our surveys about:

• Natural areas
• Parks maintenance
• Community gardens and food access
• Skateparks

Share your ideas on:

• What alternative sports and recreation do you want to do in Kitchener?

We welcome your contributions until June 30, 2023. Later this year, you'll have the chance to review a draft of our Places & Spaces strategy and share your feedback.

It's not too late to share your ideas and feedback on Kitchener parks! We have extended our surveys and ideas boards online until Jan. 13, 2022.

Answer our surveys about:

• Splashpads
• All ages play in parks
• Sports fields and sports courts
• Meeting the growing need for parks downtown

And share your ideas about:

• How would you and your family like to play in Kitchener parks?
• How might we create spaces where adults and older youth can play?

Early in 2023, there will be all new topics for you to share your comments on. Click the Subscribe button under the 'Stay Informed' section to get email updates when we announce new topics and other project news.

Join us on King Street right outside Kitchener City Hall from October 14-16!

We have heard what you want from parks spaces in the City of Kitchener and are testing those ideas out in front of Carl Zehr Square. During the pop-up, we will also collect stories about what parks mean to you. This will inform the Places and Spaces strategy that guides future activities, advocacy, planning, and investment in Kitchener parks.

Friday

9 AM - 3 PM - Indigenous EarlyON open for family play

9:45 AM - Opening Ceremony

10 AM - 5 PM - Family Fire with Elder and Knowledge Keeper Gerard

12 PM - 1 PM - Yoga

1:30 PM - 2 PM - Jummah with Sheikh Usman

6:30 PM - 8 PM - Movie Night: Stories from Land Back Camp & Recollections and Reimaginings

Saturday

9 AM - 3 PM - Indigenous EarlyON open for family play

10 AM - 3 PM - Community Living Room Conversation on Homelessness in Parks

10 AM - 5 PM - Family Fire with Elder and Knowledge Keeper Gerard

1 PM - 3 PM - Community Picnic (BYO, Buy Local)

2 PM - 4 PM - Art in the Park

2:30 PM & 3:30 PM - Story Time with Kitchener Public Library

6 PM - 8 PM - Are You Afraid of the Dark? A Safe Space to Connect After Dark Installation with Tennesha Joseph

6:30 PM - 8 PM - Movie Night with the Apollo Theatre - Hocus Pocus

Sunday

9 AM - 3 PM - Indigenous EarlyON open for family play

10 AM - 5 PM - Family Fire with Elder and Knowledge Keeper Gerard & Closing Ceremony

12 PM - 1 PM - Mindful Movements with Joscelyn Guindon & Spectrum Community Space

1 - 2 PM - Erick Traplin Concert

2 PM - 3 PM – Gold Leaf Botanical’s Plant Propagation Workshop

6:30 PM - 8 PM - Movie Night with the Apollo Theatre - Hocus Pocus 2

Our year of engagement on parks and open spaces continues this week with three brand new topics online. We opened new surveys and a new ideas board, plus we've extended the deadline for others. We want to hear from you!

Answer our surveys about:

• Splashpads
• Sports fields and sports courts
• All ages play in parks
• Meeting the growing need for parks downtown (closes Oct. 31) - extended to Nov. 30
• Accessibility barriers in Kitchener parks (closes Oct. 31)

And share your ideas about:

• How would you and your family like to play in Kitchener parks?
• How might we create spaces where adults and older youth can play?
• How might we create park spaces that support community gathering and growth? (closes Oct. 31)

Did you Know?

There are 95 dedicated sports courts and 149 dedicated sports fields located across Kitchener!

6 out of 95 sports courts and 6 out of 149 sports fields are lit.

In Kitchener there are:

• 71 Baseball Diamonds
• 70 Multi-Use Fields
• 48 Tennis Courts
• 40 Full Basketball Courts
• 7 Half Basketball Courts
• 4 Pickleball Courts
• 4 Skate/Scooter Parks
• 1 Cricket Pitch

Did you know?

Kitchener splashpads are located at:

• Breithaupt Park
• Carl Zehr Square
• Centreville Chicopee Community Centre
• Chandler Mowat
• Kingsdale Community Centre
• McLennan Park
• Pioneer Park Community Centre
• RBJ Schlegel Park
• Victoria Park

The total seasonal water usage of all 9 splashpads is 122,000 cubic metres. That is enough water to fill 49 olympic swimming pools, 21 football fields or 11.5 soccer fields with 1m of water!

The ‘Spaces’ strategy, the first part of ‘Places & Spaces: A Parks and Open Space Strategy’, sets out the vision for parkland, shaped by extensive community engagement, over the next two decades. It identifies the importance of local parks to community and sets a target of 10 square meters of local park per person across the city. The plan identifies nine critical needs communities, where the City will seek to add new parks over the coming years. The plan directs staff to:

• Work to secure up to 18 new parks in critical needs communities to support community access to local park space.
• Work with partners such as school boards and hydro companies to maximize shared opportunities to use open spaces for the public.

As part of the plan, a new Parkland Dedication By-law has been passed that includes:

• Removal of an exemption on all downtown development to pay parkland dedication as part of new development.
• Providing a discount to developers who build and sustain supportive housing and affordable rental housing.
• Providing support for developers to build public open spaces into new private developments.

Staff will begin by looking for opportunities where new parks might be located, based on priorities in the plan, and will bring recommendations forward during the 2024 budget cycle for how Council can further support and fast-track securing parkland. Work on ‘Places’, the second part of the strategy, continues and will reflect what community sees as the priorities in making a park a ‘good park’. A draft report is expected in late 2023 on Places.

This could not have been achieved without the significant support and engagement of members of community through online engagement, writing letters and emails to councillors and through attending council discussions and meetings.

Seeing Spaces approved and a new Parkland Dedication bylaw in place in a major milestone - but so too is the fact that we are half way through our engagement on Places! If you have participated so far - thank you! - if you have not yet - there's lots of opportunities coming up - both in person and online!

Whether you use parks to gather, unwind, exercise, socialize, play, or celebrate, we want to hear from you. Let us know what a great park means to you! The City of Kitchener is continuing public engagement through Places and Spaces to inform our parks and open space strategy. We are now looking for feedback on a variety of topics, including accessibility, community gathering spaces, signage, and more, all working towards creating spaces that are more inclusive and welcoming for all.

Answer our surveys about:

• Meeting the growing need for parks downtown
• How park signage can be more useful and inclusive
• Making parks welcoming and easy to access for everyone in our community

Residents can also share their ideas about:

• How can we create park spaces that support community gathering and growth?
• What does an accessible park space look like for you or your loved ones?
• What can we do to help foster belonging in Kitchener parks?
• Which are the most accessible and welcoming parks you have visited?

For feedback on accessibility, we are especially interested in hearing from people with disabilities, their loved ones and caretakers, as well as people who work with and for persons with disabilities. Help us understand the barriers in Kitchener parks so we can create more accessible and inclusive parks for all. Take our survey.