FAQs

This master plan is intended to be a living document and will serve as a department guide for decision making. The plan will help guide how the community will grow and develop numerous areas, including open space, recreation, social development, culture, environmental stewardship, and how it interacts with other areas of the public realm.

In 2011 the City did a comprehensive needs assessment for Recreation in Medicine Hat; by way of update, staff used much of that data to compare then to now and looked for key differences through a cross sectional (point in time survey) to see if there were any major changes or things that haven’t been addressed since last survey. The latest survey indicated that for the most part residents are satisfied with parks and recreation system.

170 stakeholder groups invited - 35 participated

Additional Individual Focus group engagements with certain groups included:

• YMCA
• Medicine Hat College
• Medicine Hat Community Housing Society
• Community Vibrancy Board
• Working group for Accessibility and Inclusion
• Three school districts
• Three Grade 5 classrooms

In our first survey we had 400 responses from the community which gives a good sample size for a population of less than 100,000 people.

We have a number of other recent plans and studies that indicate alignment and consistency, including:

• Outdoor Recreation Optimization Plan (2020 and Engagement with sport groups
• Playground Management Plan (2021) and public engagement
• Alberta Recreation & Parks Association Survey (2020)
• Alberta Recreation & Parks Association Survey – Medicine Hat (2020)