Contact(s)
The City of Orillia is updating their Parks, Recreation, Culture, and Trails Master Plan! This Plan is a strategic document that studies the existing park, recreation, culture, and trails system, facilities, and programming. It provides both a long-term vision for the City's system, as well as specific policies and standards to direct day-to-day decisions.
The updated Master Plan will provide a framework to identify and prioritize investment in community culture, open spaces, and amenities to create a vibrant and healthy community for all. This Plan will capture current and emerging trends in parks, recreation, culture, and trails infrastructure, services, and programs to meet the existing and future needs of residents over the next 10 years.
Engagement Opportunities
Surveys
The City of Orillia parks, Recreation, Culture, and Trails Master Plan survey is now open for responses! We’d like to hear about your experiences with the City’s Parks, Recreation, Culture, and Trails assets and services. There are three different surveys for varying age categories, as follows:
General Public Survey (ages 18 to 54)
Youth Survey (ages 18 and under)
Please complete the appropriate survey for you and your family using the above links. These surveys will be open for responses until August 1st, 2025. Thank you for your participation!
Public Open House
A Public Consultation session will be held on Saturday, April 26th, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., at the Orillia Recreation Centre. This session will be in the format of a drop-in open house with interactive boards to collect feedback from the general public. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Progress
The Parks, Recreation, Culture and Trails Master Plan commenced on October 21, 2024 and will take approximately 20 months to complete. This project will involve a review of current practices, benchmarking, establishing key performance indicators, and significant public, staff and Council consultation process including multiple avenues of engagement, such as open house public consultations, online and paper survey opportunities and focused user group meetings ensuring input from a broad range of stakeholders with the result being a comprehensive guiding document for the future of parks, recreation, culture and trails within the City of Orillia.
Phase 1 - Analyze
The City began the Analysis phase of the Parks, Recreation, Culture and Trials Master Plan in October 2024. As part of the 2024 budget process, Council approved a budget of $185,000 to complete the Parks, Recreation, Culture and Trails Master Plan. During the Analysis phase, the consultants will be reviewing current practices, current policies, relevant studies and legislation to provide a comprehensive background report.
CIP #1 - October 25, 2024
Phase 2 - Engage
Beginning April 14, 2025, the consultants will complete various engagements with staff, user groups, participants, and the public. This engagement will take place in person, virtually as well as through surveys. Completing an Engagement Findings Report and draft vision and guiding principles.
CIP #2 - March 28, 2025
Phase 3 - Implement
During the final phase of the project, anticipated to begin in October 2025, the consultants will draft an implementation plan for the proposed projects and anticipated growth. This phase will conclude with a report to Council to share the completed Parks, Recreation, Culture and Trails Master Plan.
