The first round of public engagement on the future of Portlock Park kicked off Friday with an online survey.
Open for responses until March 6, Salt Spring’s Parks and Recreation Commission (PARC) project team is offering the Portlock survey as an initial step in developing an over-arching strategy for managing the island’s parks. Islanders have expressed interest in improvements to aging infrastructure at Portlock. Over the summer, commission members had looked at improvements to the baseball field, noting that Portlock was the only location that could accommodate a senior field, and other amenities might need to be relocated.
The next step is developing a 20-year master plan for Portlock, which was identified as a priority in 2019 during PARC’s strategic planning process. CRD parks and recreation manager Dan Ovington has said existing facilities wouldn’t be removed or closed before a replacement for them was built, and a master plan would be necessary for Portlock before design and construction of facilities at other parks — relocating or adding tennis or pickleball courts, for example — should begin.
To help guide that, island residents and visitors are invited to participate in the survey. As information-gathering progresses, the project team said it would be meeting with stakeholders and local First Nations for more input before preparing draft design concepts.
A report on these findings will eventually be presented to PARC members — or, more likely, members of Salt Spring’s nascent Local Community Commission — for additional input, after which design plans will return to the public for another round of feedback.
PARC staff said the survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete, and is intended to be anonymous. To participate, visit getinvolved.crd.bc.ca/Portlock-Park.