After the two week time period, there were 197 responses on the Town of Prescott’s 2020 Project Planning Public Survey.
In a report to the Committee of the Whole it says this is nearly double the number of responses that were obtained in 2017 for the 2018 project ideas. Mayor Brett Todd says it is interesting to see the number of responses is up but it’s still pretty small.
CAO/Treasurer Matthew Armstrong says 69-percent of respondents lived in Prescott. The respondents ranged in age from 18 to over 65.
The top 10 recreation, tourism and heritage projects in order of most votes to least are: creating a downtown revitalization fund for yearly improvements, installing solar lighting along the heritage trail, establishing a dog park, rejuvenation of the Kriska Ball Fields, expanding the beach, replacement and upgrades to park play structures on a yearly basis, establishing a formal pathway from the corner of MacKenzie/Fischl to the Grocery Store and Canadian Tire, installing linkages and wayfinding for walking paths, adding a new shelter / gazebo in Centennial Park and paving of the Heritage Trail.
The top 10 infrastructure, building, and equipment projects in order of most votes to least are: accessible sidewalks and crosswalks, complete the transition to LED streetlights, upgrades and reinforcement of the break wall along the waterfront, make the sidewalks and curbs at Edward and Water Street accessible, make the sidewalk and curb at Walker House on King Street accessible, add an asphalt hot box trailer to improve winter pot hole repairs, replacement of sidewalk plow, add a backpack sanding unit to the sidewalk plow, repair museum walls and repaving of parking lot behind Walker House.
Armstrong says Council members will now go through the same list and provide their top 20 items. He says then they can take what they received from the public and what each Councillor feels is their priority and pass it along to staff and revisit this on December second.
One of the projects Todd says would be a good one for the town to get behind is the installation of the solar lighting along the heritage trail depending on what the numbers are money-wise. He adds he thinks it would be utilized a lot more if there was lighting down there and it could be a safety issue.
Armstrong says if it is one of the priorities that are chosen they will reach out to Parks Canada.
Todd says the questions with the expansion of the beach is how much it would cost and how much of a hassle it would be right now with water level issues, what the Coast Guard would say and if it’s possible to excavate on one side. He says it’s amazing to see the numbers down there now and with the splash pad opening it will be an even more heavily used facility and he’s glad to see it on the list.