Trails will ring Dundalk – rec programs are popular
Walkways have been a huge priority in recreation planning for the new areas in town and for Dundalk as a whole, Recreation Manager Kevin Green said in an interview.
When families have parents commuting to work, the recreation window is about 7 to 9 p.m.
“We identified that the family activities during that time is usually a walk somewhere,” he said.
Because many new areas in Dundalk are still under construction, some links are still missing. The overall plan is for a horseshoe-shaped trail around the community and tying into the County Rail Trail.
In some places, there are parks, and in others benches, or shade structures like gazebos.
Because of land availability, there are a few areas that do not connect, where the path will have to follow the sidewalk. There is no connection from Sheffield and Joe Lisanti Park, for example, as there wasn’t the prospect of development south at the time.
Right now, a couple sections of the path which are in the central section of Edgewood Greens have the walkway installed, but the area has not been assumed as the township requires more work to be done.
Some of the parkland the township will receive is on the edge of the setbacks from the creek to give more room and a wider view in the walkway space.
Another trail priority given in the rec plan is keeping snowmobile trail use.
PROGRAMS POPULAR
In recent years, Southgate has increased program staff and renovated and added a lift to the upstairs auditorium at the arena. There’s now a climbing wall, as well as basketball hoops in the central space. There’s also a drop-in space with games.
“The good news side of it is the changes that we made upstairs – we’re growing out of it”, he shared.
Programs offered have included 3-on-3 basketball, youth soccer and many others.
A new dance program has been added by a third-party provider, which will be hosted at the Erskine site of the South East Grey CHC because the auditorium upstairs is already filled with programming.
Programming information is on the Southgate Recreation web page.
M.T. Fernandes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Dundalk Herald
