Business Plan: Parks and Natural Areas Planning & Design

Transcription

1 Business Plan: Parks and Natural Areas Planning & Design How does this service contribute to the results identified in the City of London Strategic Plan? A Green and Growing City A Sustainable Infrastructure This service provides professional & technical services for the assessment, planning, protection, design and management of the City s natural heritage system and our parks and open space system. These systems conserve and enhance our natural areas and support London s neighbourhoods by providing active recreation opportunities, making places more livable and inclusive, and by helping them to be better linked with other neighbourhoods. Services are provided to support: all development approval processes; neighbourhood improvement programs; City capital projects; community groups; and provincial requirements of the municipality. By doing so, the Service greatly enhances Londoner s quality of life and makes London a more attractive place to live, move to and attract businesses. Name the main activities done to provide this service: Name The Activities Done To Provide This Service How Much Did We Do? (optional) Is The City Mandated To Provide This Service? Yes(1) 1. Natural Heritage Protection and Management In 2012, 14 Ha of new OS5 protected & 597 Ha of lands managed 2. Park and Open Space Design and Development 309 development files and 9 City Yes(2) No Review projects reviewed 3. Park and Open Space Construction and Project In 2013, $4.2M Capital budget in 45 Yes(3) No Management capital projects 4. Community Projects 103 projects, $566k donated to the City No Yes Notes: (1) Provincial Acts govern protection of species (2) Provincial Act requires development application review (3) AODA requirements Can The Level Of Service Be Changed? Yes 1

2 What is the current state of this service? Goals and targets for this Service are established through the Official Plan and many other Plans: Parks & Recreation Plan, Stronger Neighbourhoods Plan, Age Friendly City, Bicycle Master Plan, etc. We also have site specific plans like: Victoria Park, Springbank Park and each of our 7 Environmentally Significant Areas to guide planning, design and management. In mid-2012, the City installed use-counters along the Thames Valley Parkway (TVP) and other main pathway systems. Daily usage was recorded and is significant an average of 24,300 people use the TVP per month. The highest use is in Springbank Park, with 4,606 users on May 5. Other local pathway systems show high usage, such as Stoney Creek at 9,933 per month. Other key projects/achievements over the last 18 months have been: The Veterans Memorial Parkway (VMP) Community Program continues to fund landscape enhancements. The tree/bench donation program was put on-line to aid public and improves staff efficiency. City s first Species-at-Risk habitat protection issue resolved in Riverbend Park. City s first Design Competition completed and the design was constructed for Market Lane. What has been done to manage the budget? The service area has been actively managing its budget by implementing management lead initiatives aimed at creating efficiencies, avoiding costs and generating revenue. These include the following: Efficiencies / Costs Avoided Previous 3 Years Adopt-a-park program and other community programs have raised funds and generated hundreds of thousands of dollars of in-kind labour from the business and residential community Perform significant amount of in-house study and evaluation, which is more cost-effective than contracting out this necessary work to consultants Negotiated least cost for extending parkland contributions and donation of natural heritage lands to City Renegotiated arrangement with Upper Thames River Conservation Area for Environmentally Sensitive Authority management at a reduced fee partnership with UTRCA helps to contain costs of ESA management to City 2

3 Revenue Generation / User Fee Increases Previous 3 Years Raised significant funds from business community and volunteers through VMP project innovative, award-winning new partnership What is the future direction of this service? With enhanced public consultation and more stringent technical requirements, capital projects are taking longer to plan and are becoming more costly. In the future, fewer capital projects can be completed with the existing level of staff and projected funding reductions. AODA requirements will increase the cost of Life Cycle Renewal parkland development beginning in The planned update to the Parks & Recreation Master Plan in 2015/16 will review current services and service levels. The Official Plan states that the Thames Valley Corridor is the City s most valuable recreational, environmental and aesthetic resource. Implementation of the Council-approved Thames Valley Corridor Plan will require additional funding to achieve the goals in the Plan related to ecological protection, pathway gap completion, heritage interpretation and activity node (major parks) upgrades/creation. What future initiatives can be contained within the maintain existing service level budget? 2015 Budget Focus capital improvements on projects that provide service to the greatest number of Londoners. Pathways serve all Londoners and are free to use, fully accessible, provide health and social benefits, create neighbourhood links and are one of the most cost amenities effective from a capital and maintenance perspective. Reduce the level of service in ESAs to be in line with other service cuts, the value relative to the amount of use and new management standards for trees. Increase the funding available to support to community-led projects as these support Stronger Neighbourhoods and generate up to a 7:1 return on investment. 3

4 Forecast Reduce the number of planned capital projects to permit staff adequate time for enhanced consultation and technical design and to allow for a quicker response to new projects/opportunities brought to the section. Funding for Life Cycle Renewal projects and Growth Projects should increase over time to address AODA requirements. The update to the Parks & Recreation Master Plan may alter service levels. Identify increased funding for implementation of the Thames Valley Corridor Plan. What service adjustments do you plan to make? 2015 Budget A plan is being submitted for the Forks of the Thames Downtown parks project; this will draw from the results of the national design competition being led by the London Community foundation to prepare more detailed design drawings for the Forks area Forecast Additional funding will be required to implement the plan that is ultimately developed through the national design competition being led by London Community Foundation (LCF); this funding will augment that provided by LCF donors and possibly other levels of government. 4

5 Key Performance Indicators How Much? Description of measure Average number of users on the Thames Valley 24,500 25,000 25,500 26,000 26,500 27,000 Parkway (per month) 2. Percentage of Parkland with the municipal boundary 5.9% 6.0% 6.1% 6.3% 6.4% 6.5% Is Anyone Better Off? Description of measure Total Length of Thames Valley Parkway 41.2km 41.2km 41.4km 43.5km 44.3km 45.1km 4. Total Number of Parks