St. Marys council to consider next steps for Milt Dunnell Field after successful public engagement

It’s clear the people of St. Marys care about the future of Milt Dunnell Field.

A recent public survey about proposed upgrades to improve accessibility, increase usability and attract more visitors to the beloved local park – known locally as “The Flats” – elicited responses from a record 1,300 people, the town announced this week. The survey included questions about two proposed design concepts for the park developed by a landscape architect and intended as a launching point for discussion about park improvements with the wider community.

“We’re super excited,” said André Morin, the town’s director of corporate services. “We got over 1,300 responses to the survey. Obviously, there’s lots of conversation continuing to happen and we’re getting emails, so certainly it’s a very interesting project. People in the community are certainly very excited, very passionate about Milt Dunnell (Field), which again is good information for us to have.”

While the designs are only concepts at this point and nothing has been set in stone, one of the features from both designs that generated significant public feedback was the notion of transitioning a portion of the park’s ring road nearest to the Thames River into a pedestrian walkway while a two-way road linking proposed parking lots at the park’s northern edge would allow vehicular traffic in and out of the park.

“There’s two sides to that, of course, so we’re going to try to nail that down a little bit as we dive into the details a little bit more,” Morin said. “Certainly, there’s a big piece of being able to enjoy the nature, enjoy the river, and part of that is for those who can’t walk as far or can’t access some of our trail networks. Milt Dunnell Field gives them an opportunity to do that because you can drive in (close to the river) and be able to enjoy that nature.”

St. Marys council will have an opportunity to review and consider the feedback collected through the survey and correspondence with residents at a strategic priorities meeting on July 18 at 9 am During that meeting, council will continue its discussion around the long-term vision and what further steps should be taken to develop a master plan for the park.

“I’m not sure exactly what will come out of that meeting and what options we’ll take off the table or what options we’ll put back on the table,” Morin said. “We’re not in a rush. We have time to figure out what’s the best things we can do, if anything. Maybe the conclusion is doing some of the short-term priorities is all we need to do.”

Those short-term priorities include upgrades to the washrooms and lawn-bowling building, playground accessibility upgrades, improvements to support the St. Marys Farmers’ Market and the addition of a soccer field, all of which are being supported with grant funding that expires in March 2024.

Those who missed their chance to provide input through the survey can still email comments to Morin at [email protected]. For more information about the Milt Dunnell Revitalization project, visit www.discoverstmarys.ca/en/see-and-do/milt-dunnell-field-revitalization-project.aspx.

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