Feds fund Neepawa multi-use trail park

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This article was published 18/08/2022 (1282 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Federal funding announced on Wednesday is pushing the Town of Neepawa’s plan for the HyLife Back Forty multi-use trails system into the next phase of development.

In a provincial and federal press release issued Wednesday afternoon, it was announced that Neepawa, located 76 kilometres northeast of Brandon, would receive an investment from the federal government of up to $550,000 for the development of the trails.

Neepawa Chief Administrative Officer Colleen Synchyshyn told the Sun in a telephone interview that the announcement of funding was “great news” for the community.

“We’ve been waiting for this,” Synchyshyn said.

The funding, Synchyshyn said, comes from the Community Culture and Recreation Infrastructure stream of the federal government’s Investing in Canada Infrastructure program, which the press release stated is delivering more than $33 million for public infrastructure across Canada. The Town of Neepawa is contributing $137,500 toward eligible costs for the project, according to the release.

Synchyshyn said the town applied for the funding in 2019. The year before, a recreational study for a master plan for Neepawa was completed.

“We decided … that we had to look a what the needs of the community were.”

In that study, the town came up with a list of recreation items it wanted to make happen in the community. Coming in at the top spot, Synchyshyn said, were plans for basketball, pickleball and tennis courts.

Following this was the need for a multi-use trails park, something Synchyshyn said was at the forefront of council’s mind during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The community’s growing multicultural population also motivated the town to look at what recreation spaces the town would benefit from.

“We’re getting a lot of different cultures here, and a lot of that cultural changes means that people aren’t necessarily interested in the standard types of sports that would normally go on in the community.”

The town was working on a lagoon project in 2018 that also recently received funding from the Investing in Canada Infrastructure program. Synchyshyn said that during that process, the town had to provide a large amount of clay for the base of one of its lagoons. Then, the land where the clay came from had to be levelled off and made safe.

Synchyshyn said instead of just sowing grass at the site the clay was taken from, the town decided to bring in a design team to look at building a trail park there. Once some design diagrams came back from different consulting firms, the town held an open house in 2019. Then, in October 2020, the HyLife Back Forty trail had its grand opening.

With the money from Wednesday’s funding announcement, Synchyshyn said the town is considering adding more features and amenities to the 5.5 kilometres of multi-use trails, which feature duck under and over bridges, a tunnel and various jumps and mounds.

“We’re quite excited to add some features up there — picnic shelters, play areas, that kind of thing.”

Neepawa Mayor Blake McCutcheon said in the press release that he was pleased the Town of Neepawa was selected to receive the funding.

“As our community continues to grow, council understands the importance of ensuring the availability of accessible public spaces that offer a variety of options for recreational and leisure activity.”

» mleybourne@brandonsun.com

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