Leadership in Asset Management Program
Pilot Project for Neighbourhood Parks and Trails
Have you ever wondered who decides:
- How wide trails should be?
- How often park grass should be mowed?
- What kind of playground equipment should be installed and how often it should be replaced?
- What types of flowers should be planted and how they should be cared for?
These are the kinds of questions the City of Nanaimo considers when setting levels of service in its neighbourhood parks and trails.
Making responsible decisions about levels of service is part of the City’s asset management program. The City of Nanaimo manages over $2 billion worth of public infrastructure, including roads, water, sewer, parks, trails, and many others.
Asset management is the process of making decisions about using and caring for this infrastructure in a responsible way. It is about considering the needs of current and future residents, identifying risks to meeting these needs, and making the best
use of the resources available. Setting levels of service helps a community manage its assets better.
Pilot Project
The City is undertaking a three-step pilot project to identify what, if any, changes should be made to levels of service in neighbourhood parks and trails.
- Step 1 – Detailed inventory of neighbourhood parks and trails, assessing everything from the number of benches to the condition of playgrounds.
- Step 2 – Focus groups with Nanaimo residents asking participants how they think about levels of service and brainstorming ideas for how the City should engage residents about this topic in the future.
- Step 3 – Recommendations for changes to levels of service and cost impacts of these changes.
This pilot project only looks at neighbourhood parks and trails. The City is planning on completing a Parks and Recreation Master Plan which will include more significant public engagement on all aspects of parks and recreation. Learn more about this
pilot project by watching the following video.
Leadership in Asset Management
A leader in asset management, the City of Nanaimo is one of only 12 Canadian municipalities to participate in the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Leadership in Asset Management Program. The findings of this pilot project will be
used by other departments at the City of Nanaimo and provide guidance to other Canadian municipalities starting similar initiatives.
If you have any questions please contact us at parksandrecreation@nanaimo.ca.