Capital Regional District Nature-Based Recreation
2022-2023 | Capital Regional District, BC
British Columbia’s Capital Regional District (the District) spans over 2,340 square kilometers and is a mix of urbanized areas, rolling farmlands, old-growth forests, and rugged coastlines. The District serves over 440,000 people across 13 municipalities and believes that every one of those people should have a place to recreate and enjoy their outdoor life.
The District’s guiding principles on accessibility and universal design drive their commitment to develop and maintain outdoor spaces for everyone: from providing accessible outdoor experiences that promote a sense of dignity and independence, to promoting universal design in representative natural landscapes throughout the regional parks and trail systems.
In alignment with their guiding principles, the District launched the Accessible Nature Based Outdoor Recreation Opportunities project and engaged McElhanney to move the project forward. The project’s core work revolved around identifying gaps in accessible nature-based outdoor recreation opportunities and recommending actionable concepts to fill those gaps.
Nature-Based Outdoor Recreation Planning and Design Process
McElhanney got started by conducting an inventory and general assessment of accessible nature-based outdoor recreation opportunities within the District’s regional parks and across the District as a whole. Tanelle Bolt, Accessibility Advisor and Adaptive Nature-based Outdoor Recreation Expert with Bolt Access & Design Co., was instrumental during this phase; Bolt toured each site to provide fulsome analysis and reporting.
Next, McElhanney began a series of public engagement events, teaming up with Bolt Access & Design Co. and RC Strategies to collaborate with accessibility representatives and advocates. Project team members were committed to delivering engagement that reduced strain and fatigue on the very underrepresented group with whom they were connecting.
McElhanney recognized that if these engagement sessions were conducted effectively, they would far exceed the project’s minimum objectives: “From our team’s perspective, this project wasn’t solely about planning and designing outdoor recreational spaces to a minimum accessibility standard,” recalls Project Coordinator and Senior Landscape Architect, Kim Unger. “It was also about understanding the desired range of accessible and adaptive outdoor recreation experiences and determining how and where those could most feasibly be provided.”
Project Results
Based on the results of the engagement, McElhanney reviewed a selection of District parks to identify which parks were most suited to filling the gaps and delivering the desired accessibility opportunities. Then, the project team prepared concept plans and cost estimates for developing 10 of those accessibility opportunities in five of the most suitable parks, a selection which spanned coastal, lakeside, and forest landscapes.
McElhanney is proud of contributing to the District’s accessibility and universal design efforts so that everyone has a place to recreate and enjoy their outdoor life.
McElhanney provided:
- Interest holder public engagement
- Inventory and summary of accessible nature-based outdoor recreation opportunities with CRD Regional Parks and the CRD Region
- Prioritized list of accessible nature-based outdoor recreation opportunities that CRD Regional Parks should pursue
- Concept descriptions for 10 projects including Class D cost estimates
- Recommendations to improve the draft CRD Regional Parks & Trails Standards
- Written project report
