A community group looking into local recreation spaces offered a presentation to council for the Municipality of the County of Antigonish during last night’s regular meeting of council.
People for an Antigonish Recreation Centre members Paul Curry and Trudy Delorey came before council asking for support in creating a working group with town and county council members and staff to explore the recreation needs in the area.
Following the meeting council voted on a trio of motions; that council direct staff to allocate a staff members to the PARC working group; that council allocate 1-2 council members to join the working group from January at the end of March, and that council direct staff to liaise with the PARC group and prepare a report for presentation at a future meeting on what would be involved in a needs assessment for a community, sports, and recreation centre, including a study of existing facility utilization, and how much that needs assessment might cost.
After the motions passed, councillors Adam Baden-Clay and Richelle MacLaughlin volunteered to join the working group. Councillor Harris McNamara, who voted against the three motions, also volunteered to be a part of the group.
Following the meeting Warden Nicholas MacInnis said it is nice to see individuals put the effort in to create such a group.
MacInnis said the work group will meet twice a month from January until the end of March to help identify the community’s recreation needs, make sure existing recreation infrastructure is being used properly, and potentially coming up with a plan to better use those spaces. Regardless of what comes out of the working group, MacInnis called it a positive step in the right direction for increasing recreation opportunities in the community.