NEXT 50

PURPOSE BACKGROUND BUILDING CONSENSUS PROGRESS VOLUNTEERS WELCOMED
EMERGING THEMES, GUIDING PRINCIPLES & YOUR FEEDBACK
We Took All Of The Individual Ideas Collected From:

After looking at ALL these individual ideas several MAJOR THEMES have emerged and are listed. THANK YOU for all the ideas submitted! We are going to have an amazing adventure in 2021 as we use these themes to build a common vision for our community for the NEXT50 years!

NEXT50 MAJOR THEMES EMERGING FROM YOUR INPUT:

For topline communication purposes we have created a visual to represent the emerging themes, these themes are a summary of everything we have heard to date.

  1. ‘Thinking beyond the fence’, basically a euphemism for Community Development activities.
    • People are proud of our history of community building (examples include the produce stand, the newsletter, the sponsor ship of a refugee family, planning of 50 trees, to name only a few). There is a strong interest in continuing to promote community development.
    • Many of the specific ideas were linked to:
      • climate change and encouraging the reduction of the carbon footprint of our neighbourhood
      • ideas of building a neighbourhood where people would ‘age in place’
      • exploring & building relationships with other Beechwoods; potentially sharing our resources.
         
  2. Creation of an integrated, site-wide landscape plan that we can implement over time. Key elements of this summary are:
    • That this plan be governed by low maintenance principles.
    • The use of perimeter planting to define the space(s); & the strategic removal & and replanting of large trees.
    • Development of a plan to use the slope to our advantage.
    • Improvement of parking lot area with cedars on south; more benches near courts, improved bicycle parking, removal of burning bushes/possibly replace with lattice screening of some sort.
       
  3. Creation of a Master Plan of our physical space. We will need to decide how we are going to share our space going forward; what do we KEEP/ADD/& CHANGE. Key elements of this summary include:
    • Updating our tired looking space (new pool deck, repairing the pool circulation & underwater lighting, replace liner when needed, update shade and seating).
    • Building an energy efficient, 1 or 2 story pool house: double/ triple its current footprint. Making it suitable for year-round use.
    • How do we share our space differently? Loads of interest in ‘more sports on the courts’, more activities/equipment for tweens, teens and seniors (including pickleball lines, tetherball, basketball hoop, outdoor exercise equipment, skipping clubs for kids & adults). The creation of interactive/multipurpose spaces (e.g. small playground, splash pad, more seating options, seating on the slope, proper playground surface between gazebo & shed, integrated space for Produce Stand, ‘patio’ type seating for adults…..
    • Finally, there is a lot of interest in maximizing the adjacent City green space. It offers great opportunity for a pollinator garden & programming activity.
       
  4. Guiding principles for the NEXT50 Project. These emerged from repeated input.
Guiding Principles

Build on
Strengths
 

Environmentally
Sustainable
 

Year-round/
Age Inclusive
 

Financially
Sustainable
 
The importance of building on the strengths and making changes to improve usability and appeal for all ages. There was support for developing a ‘fresh look’ but maintaining the local ‘gathering place’ feel & avoiding a ‘resort look’. A good summary comment was “No need to ‘start from scratch’, just share our current space differently and selectively make improvements within and adjacent to the existing footprint”. The importance of including environmental sustainability in our re-design. Many mentions of shade management; waste management; alternative energy sources. And the importance of paying thoughtful attention to how we use our resources (solar, geothermal, grey water, pool water treatment, etc.). Looking for ways to incorporate more year-round activities & programming and improve site accessibility for all ages and stages of life. Financial sustainability: this is a double-barreled item:

1st is the development of a membership model for the next 50 years. It is time to do an assessment of our current membership model; a comprehensive search of other models; and create a financially sustainable model for the future.

2nd is the matter of fundraising for capital improvements for the rec centre.

WE WANT YOUR FEEDBACK ON THESE GUIDING PRINCIPLES: It is important to build consensus around these Guiding Principles. All planning and evaluating of alternatives will be evaluated against them. 2020 was focused on gaining insights and ideas… In 2021 we will start building consensus and evaluation alternatives. Please click this LINK and give us your thoughts on the 4 Guiding Principles which have been gleaned from all the community input received to date.

Contact

Beechwood Park Homes Association
293 Shakespeare Drive
Waterloo, ON N2L 2T9

Mailing address:
PO Box 22016
Westmount PO
50 Westmount Rd N
Waterloo, ON N2L 2R0

519-746-1082

© 2012 All rights reserved.

Powered by Webnode