Open house-style public sessions with city officials give Hatters a chance to engage on a number of topics. Downtown Medicine Hat is pictured in this undated file photo.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
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Hatters are being asked for their positions on an “Arts, Heritage and Entertainment Plan” this week ahead of more outreach this spring on a transportation plan and a general “mingle” with municipal officials in February on a wide variety of topics.
Committee meetings last week heard administration discuss the series of upcoming open house-style events as a chance for citizens to provide input on a number of issues.
On Monday, officials working on the plan hosted a public workshop at the Esplanade after afternoon sessions at the BeYouth Centre on the “arts” plan that will guide long-term planning and city support for cultural activities.
This morning, city officials will present on the plan and answer questions from the public audiences at the Unison Veiner Centre, from 9:30-11:30 a.m., then the Big Marble Go Centre from 1-3 p.m.
An online survey is available at the city’s ShapeYourCity.MedicineHat.ca website until February 19, with the draft plan due in late April and a final draft moving to council in July.
That is just one of several large public engagement plans underway in 2024.
The transportation master plan is also set to be updated after it was adopted in 2013. That could affect another general update to the land-use bylaw, which guides urban planning and is expected to include roadways as well as cycling and other modes of “active transportation,” including trails.
There is no immediate timeline on the public participation process.
Municipal Mingle
An unstructured drop-in event on Feb. 13 is being billed as a “Municipal Mingle” where citizens can discuss general plans or specific issues with corresponding city department.
It follows a similar event in 2023, and will run from 4-7 p.m. that day at the Esplanade studio theatre.
Highlight topics include:
– Residential and commercial land development, Energy and Land division;
– The four main strategies of the reformed Medicine Hat Economic Development office;
– The Arts Heritage and Entertainment masterplan, community development department;
– The land-use bylaw update, planning department, and;
– The Transportation Masterplan, municipal works.
Registration in not required.
