Phase 2 Community Engagement Summary Report HAIG PARK MASTERPLAN August 2017 Contents Executive summary 3 What the community told us 4 Engagement Process 5 Part 1: Community engagement summary 7 Part 2: Community comfort level with the draft design ideas 11 Part 3: Summary of comments per design idea 14 Appendix 26 Engagement summary by method 26 Online survey 26 Drop-in sessions 27 Email submissions 29 Discussion board comments 57 Workshop comments 73 Speaker series evaluation 74 Online survey 76 Structure of this report The executive summary provides a qualitative assessment of all the community feedback and provides key insights for the masterplan from this phase of community engagement. Part one provides an overview of the community engagement activities, purpose and timeline. Part two outlines the overall community comfort level with the draft designs. Part three provides a summary of the feedback we heard on the design ideas. Part four provides a detailed summary of comments by engagement method (online survey, drop-ins, email submissions, discussion board, workshop and speaker series). page 2 Haig Park Masterplan Development – Phase 2 Community Engagement Summary Executive summary In early 2017 the ACT Government began a process to develop a masterplan for Haig Park which aims to establish how Haig Park can be a more inviting and usable space while conserving and promoting its heritage significance. The community is contributing to developing the masterplan through a range of engagement activities over a number of different phases. This engagement process recognises the park as an important community asset which has significant interest for the Canberra community with a high heritage and historic value. It also recognises the community has significant experience, knowledge and expertise about the park which can contribute to the masterplan. Community engagement is being conducted over three stages. The first phase of community engagement, which occurred from January to March 2017, focused on understanding stakeholder and community views, issues and aspirations for the site. The second phase, which ran from May to June 2017, focused on testing and reviewing draft design ideas for the Haig Park Masterplan. Phase three, which is expected to occur in late 2017, will seek public feedback on the Draft Haig Park masterplan. This report documents the feedback received during the second phase of community engagement. The ideas and feedback we received in the first phase of engagement were used to develop draft themes, objectives and principles for the masterplan. From these, the architects created four key design ideas: Edges, Park Rooms, Activities and Pathways. (see the phase one community engagement summary report for more detail available at yoursay.act.gov.au/haigpark). The second phase of community engagement focused on testing the design ideas with the community. Over six and a half weeks from Wednesday 10 May 2017 to Friday 23 June, we heard from: • 252 people through an online survey • 74 people at one workshop • 62 people at three drop-in consultation sessions • Local community representative and stakeholder groups through individual meetings including with the Braddon Precinct, Turner Scouts Hall and North Canberra Community Council • 38 people via email submissions • 39 people via the online discussion board with 84 comments posted • 68 people at the Haig Park speakers series event We also made contact with over 400 people via our email subscription list and by directly approaching interested community groups. We ran Facebook advertising and put posters in local shops to ensure a wide range of people were informed of the process and how they could participate. page 3 Haig Park Masterplan Development – Phase 2 Community Engagement Summary What the community told us • Overall, the community is comfortable with the draft design ideas presented (edges, pathways, activities and park rooms) and the general direction of the masterplan (see comfort rating page 13). People suggested a range of additions to the designs, most of which went to a level of detail not addressed in this phase of engagement (e.g. surfaces of paths, design palette, locations of amenities). This information will be used to inform the next stage of detailed designs and will be discussed with the community in the next phase of community engagement in late 2017. • The community were generally comfortable with the edge path alignment and there was strong support for slowing the edge environment (see comfort rating page 14). The comments indicated that the edge could be used for a variety of activities, such as running or cycling. The majority of comments suggested that it was important to retain as many trees as possible through the edge path alignment and the park should retain its green feel. Pedestrian crossings, lighting and safety were regularly mentioned in comments relating to the edge. • There was general support for the design idea pathways (see comfort rating page 17), although there was some concern about the amount of pathways and that this may break up the green space too much (i.e. too much concrete). One of the themes that received a large amount of comments was the surface or finish of the paths indicating that the finish of the paths should be well considered, with a desire for natural finishes while maintaining accessibility and safety. People were in favour of maintaining the existing desire lines. • Many of the comments that referenced paths indicated the need to cater for cyclists. Of those many people were supportive of increasing cyclist safety through off road paths or slow environments and there was support for the east-west cycle route and linking up Limestone Avenue (Ainslie) to Sullivans Creek and McCaughey Street (Turner). However, there was also a large number of comments suggesting that if there was a shared environment this needed to be wide enough to safely accommodate bikes and pedestrians (particularly dog walking and slower pedestrians like children) and/or signage and education was needed to ensure safe interactions. • Crossing and access across Northbourne Avenue was regularly raised as an issue that needed to be addressed to better connect the park as one continuous space. Access was also raised as an issue at Sullivans Creek, Torrens Street and the Turner drain which runs east-west through the Turner end of the park. • People generally like the activity zones and approach to park rooms (see comfort rating page 10). The feedback strongly indicated that the community think it’s important that the park maintains a similar character and feel across the different rooms, and for it not to feel too ‘broken up’. More than 50 percent of survey respondents felt the activity areas were in the right spot and 8 percent said none of the activity areas were correctly placed or disagreed with the concept of activity areas. • A large proportion of the comments that referred to the types of activities indicated strong interest and some concerns around commercial activity of the park and the possible effects of noise from activities on residential areas. Things like food vans and ‘pop-ups’ often attracted a mix of love it or hate it comments. Markets and events was one of the most commonly referenced activities, with comments indicating the markets and events location in Turner was a positive addition. There was also support, particularly in the workshops, for the areas that provide quiet recreation and reflection. • There was some request for facilities to allow and encourage exercise, including, basketball rings, dog walking spaces, disc golf, pump track, orienteering course and ‘park run’ loop (2-5km). • A question on biodiversity of the park was answered by 100 out of 252 survey respondents. The majority of community members felt biodiversity was an important theme to consider in developing the masterplan and where possible, the biodiversity value of Haig Park should be maintained and if possible, strengthened. There was strong support for naturalising Sullivans Creek and some suggestions to change the tree species to increase biodiversity. The idea for nature play and recreation near Sullivans Creek was supported. page 4 Haig Park Masterplan Development – Phase 2 Community Engagement Summary • A commonly mentioned topic across many of the themes and areas of the park is lighting . This includes lighting paths and the perimeter of the park, as well as removing some trees to let sunlight in during the day. Lighting needs to be considerate of surrounding residents and wildlife. • The heritage of the park and trees was also a topic that was raised in relation to other themes across the various engagement activities. There was some recognition of the important value of heritage and the trees but different interpretations of that value. Of the people who mentioned heritage some believe the heritage value of the park relates to how the park connects to the broader city identity as a green garden city; a small section of the people who mentioned heritage believe the best way to maintain the heritage value is to have little to no change in the park and they feel that the woodland atmosphere of the park will be compromised by any of the changes suggested in the draft design ideas. Approximately half the people who mentioned heritage felt that heritage was important but should not restrict the opportunity for making the park more usable. • People feel that the community engagement process is being well run and that a lot of effort has gone in to making sure people have an avenue to input. However, a small number of people provided negative feedback on the process. Community vision for Haig Park: “Haig Park is a vibrant and inclusive urban park providing a series of safe and attractive spaces for passive and active enjoyment, whilst connecting with the heritage of the park.