Thursday August 14, 2025 | SOOKE, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
There’s a new Strategic Plan for the Sooke & Electoral Area Parks and Recreation Commission (SEAPARC).
The new Strategic Plan is to guide priorities and focus areas for the next 10 years (2025 – 2035). IT reads, overall, like a ‘note to self’, i.e. be smart about existing resources and plan carefully for future investments.
There are some ‘future investments’ listed including (see page 19 of the 28-page report):
- a new large span multipurpose activity and program space
- a second arena
- additional programming space
- expansion of the existing swimming pool
The new plan updates and replaces the previous plan developed in 2015.
Extensive engagement:
The development of the new Strategic Plan included community engagement using surveys, open house events, discussion sessions, and child and youth focused engagements.
The Capital Regional District (CRD) in their release about the new SEAPARC strategic plan says the new insights were gathered through the engagement and research conducted by the project team (including analysis of existing bookings and program data, benchmarking, population and demographics analysis, and a review of trends and best practices).
The engagement provided a basis of information from which to identify opportunities, gaps, and potential focus areas.
The detailed engagement and research findings were compiled into the Key Findings Report.
Mission:
The SEAPARC Recreation Centre is owned and operated by the Capital Regional District (CRD).
The SEAPARC commission serves the taxpayers of the District of Sooke and the CRD’s Juan de Fuca Electoral Area (including East Sooke and the unincorporated areas beyond Sooke up to Port Renfrew).
The SEAPARC mission is stated as: “The Sooke & Electoral Area Parks and Recreation Commission creates and fosters recreational opportunities
for the residents of Sooke and the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area through the planning, development, provision and operation of recreational facilities, programs, services and activities.”
Goals:
The goals seem pretty straightforwardfor any organization that wants to capitalize on what they already have and then move forward in a beneficial direction:
1 – Optimize service delivery. Recreation services are highly dynamic and continually evolving. As such, SEAPARC will need to
continue identifying ways to meet emerging demands, communicate available opportunities, and ensure its programming and activity mix is aligned with resident and user group needs.
2- Optimize existing infrastructure. SEAPARC manages an inventory of indoor and outdoor assets with a replacement value in the
hundreds of millions of dollars. While demands exist for new infrastructure, it will be critically important for SEAPARC to sustain existing infrastructure through sound asset management practices. Opportunities to better align existing amenities and spaces with best practice and
increase the value they provide to facility users will also be explored where viable.
3 – Invest in new recreation infrastructure. SEAPARC and its partners will need to determine how to best use available resources to
meet current and emerging needs, which may include the addition of new amenities. These decisions will be based on maximizing community benefit using the finite resources available (cost-benefit).
Mayor’s comment:
Maja Tait has been the Mayor Sooke since 2014, during which time she has been integrally involved in the SEAPARC journey as a Commissioner on the SEAPARC board.
Other commissions are District of Sooke Councillor Al Beddows (Chair), D. Little (Vice Chair), N. Dowhy, CRD electoral area director Al Wickheim, and N. Quint.
The new strategic plan was approved at the June 3, 2025 meeting of the SEAPARC Commission.
Today Mayor Tait offered this comment:
“SEAPARC’s commitment to optimizing existing spaces – while planning for a second arena, an expanded pool, and more flexible programming areas – ensures that our recreation centre continues to adapt and serve the diverse needs of Sooke and the Juan de Fuca communities,” said Tait.
“This strategic plan is shaped by the voices of our residents, whose ideas and priorities have guided its development. Their input ensures that the path forward reflects our community’s vision for accessible, inclusive, and sustainable recreation opportunities.”