Lively/Walden: Help Shape Your Future

Please note: A notice for a "Saturday, June 25" information session was posted in error. We apologize for the confusion.

The Project

City Council has agreed to the sale of Meatbird Lake Park to Vale Canada Limited for $4 million. Funds from the sale will be reinvested into the Lively/Walden community to develop new recreational opportunities and will ensure local residents have access to safe ways to play in the area.

Proceeds of the $4 million sale are being held in the Capital Financing Reserve Fund – General, and are dedicated to the improvement of leisure infrastructure in the Walden (Lively) area.

In the interim, a supervised beach at Centennial Park, located at 400 Graham Road in Whitefish, is available for residents until a new recreation opportunity is established.

Lively Recreation Advisory Panel

The Lively Recreation Advisory Panel was formed in the fall of 2021 with ten members from Walden/Lively community.

The 2018-2022 term of City Council expired on November 14, 2022.

Although the membership for panels ends with the new term of Council, the Lively Recreation Advisory Panel membership will continue as this is a project-based initiative. Consistent membership will ensure knowledge transfer and prevent a break in work completed to date.

As directed by Council, there will be a change to the terms of reference to replace the two youth panel members with adult candidates due to the lack of participation by youth members. These positions have since been filled by new members.

Staff will be consulting with local youth leadership and volunteer groups to encourage other approaches that engage this demographic.

Stakeholder Meetings Underway

On October 15, the Lively Recreation Advisory Panel met to complete its evaluation of three preferred sites for the new recreational facility.

During the meeting, the Advisory Panel members were presented with a detailed rating scheme to score 15 different categories for each of the three locations. The project designers led by 3rdLine.Studio explained the conceptual drawings and how each site connects with the proposed components; the ten panel members then voted on the criteria. An average score was then taken for all three sites to identify the preferred option.

The project team is now preparing for the next phase of community engagement. A stakeholder session will be held on Wednesday, November 26, to be followed by a public open house from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Michael Vagnini Room at T.M. Davies Arena. Physical posters advising residents of the open house details will be posted throughout Walden.

At the open house, the project team and consultants will share the conceptual designs for all three sites and communicate the preferred option identified by the Advisory Panel.

Following the in-person session, residents will be invited to share their feedback on the preferred option, as well as the other two conceptual designs. Conceptual drawings will be available on this page, and the online comment form will be open from November 26 until December 19, 2025.

Feedback from this engagement, combined with the panel's work, will be used to provide a project update for City Council in Spring 2026.

The tender for the Lively Recreation Project has been awarded to 3rdLine Studio, a local architectural company who has been in practice for more than 40 years.

The studio provides full architectural services including master planning, functional programming building condition assessments and Building Information Modeling (BIM) and animations and is experienced in a diverse range of projects including recreation facilities, schools, public works facilities, industrial shops, commercial retail spaces, offices, cultural centres, multi-unit residential, long-term care and treatments centres.

Over the last three years 3rdLine Studio has worked on a number of recreational projects ranging in size, scope and type, including: Lively Ski Hill Chalet Renewal, Lively Golf Club Facility Renovations, Lo Ellen Park Outdoor Rink Redevelopment, Town of Central Manitoulin Recreation Infrastructure Study, Caruso Club Interior Renovations and Timmins Multi Use Community Recreation Complex.

3rdLine Studio will be bringing in the expertise of Recreational Planner Jon Hack to support this project. Jon has led the development of numerous recreation master plans for communities across Canada; he will provide planning expertise and perspective to this project and will be actively involved in community consultation activities.

Previous Rounds of Community Engagement

Two community engagements have concluded. The initial engagement took place in September 2021. The second engagement took place in June of 2022. Surveys and idea boards were available on Over to You. There were several online tools and information sources available, including background reports, frequently asked questions, posters. Paper copies were also available at Citizen Service Centre//Library locations, and residents could submit their feedback via 311.

In June of 2022, Oracle Poll contacted residents throughout the city to collect their feedback and complete a telephone survey about the project’s next steps. There were several events in the Lively/Walden community for residents to attend and ask questions, give their input and complete the second survey.

Members of the panel are working with City staff to present the next set of recommendations to City Council, supported by results of polling/engagement and the work of the Lively Recreation Advisory Panel.

Read the full report and process update