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.

May 1, 2025 - Stakeholder Meetings Underway

The project team met with the Lively Recreation Advisory Panel in January and April. A public drop-in engagement session was set up during the Walden Winter Carnival to introduce the next phase of the project. In the past few weeks, stakeholder meetings have taken place with key groups connected to the preferred locations that were previously identified including the Anderson Farm Museum & Heritage Society, the Walden Seniors & Pensioners, the Lively Ski Hill Committee, the Lively Public Library/Citizen Service Centre, and the Walden Youth Centre. There was also a general stakeholder meeting that took place with groups that had previously been identified by the Advisory Panel as important to consult with. Sessions are currently taking place with children from local schools in Lively and with Atikameksheng Anishnawbek.

Steps will be taken to provide an update to the public after these stakeholder sessions are complete with information being shared on Over To You, on social media and through physical posters that will be displayed in sites throughout Lively. The project team will then be working towards developing an initial conceptual design for each of the three preferred sites. At this stage, the City will solicit community feedback on these conceptual designs and a meeting with the Accessibility Advisory Panel will be scheduled.

December 9, 2024 - Tender Awarded

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.

The Lively Recreation Advisory Panel will meet in January to discuss next steps.

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