Cathy Dobson /The Independent

Visible upgrades are now taking place less than a year after city council approved a new multi-million-dollar master plan for Sarnia’s number one attraction.

Canatara Park – described by TripAdvisor as the city’s 80 hectare “gem” –  has new beach volleyball courts, washroom improvements, and repaved walking/biking paths already.

Plans are underway for a new storage building and there’s potential that more larger scale projects will be green lit in the next city budget.

“It’s exciting,” said Tom Burnard, manager of Sarnia’s parks and facilities.  “The foot traffic in Canatara is fantastic.  It’s a very well-used park.”

City council spent $88,000 to pay a consultant to gather community input and come up with a comprehensive master plan endorsed by council nine months ago.

Thousands of people participated in creating the master plan, making their opinions known about a city asset that has been a favourite for generations.

Canatara Park, with its long stretch of award-winning beaches, bandshell, events field and picnic areas, was gifted to the city in 1932 by Maud Hanna who stipulated that the land would always remain available for the community’s recreation.

Hanna was the widow of W.J. Hanna who was once president of Imperial Oil and a Conservative MPP. 

The park has numerous buildings and features that are in poor condition, Krissy Glavin, Sarnia’s recreation and parkland planning manager, said this week.

Glavin and Burnard were invited to speak about upgrades for Canatara at Tuesday’s Kiwanis of Sarnia-Lambton Golden K club meeting.

She called the park a “pride place” for the city that saw heavy use during the pandemic.  Not only did local residents start to use the park more, it was “discovered” by out-of-town visitors who continue to populate the beach and picnic areas regularly.

That heavier use requires more attention to protect Canatara’s natural areas, Glavin said.

The consultants emphasized that the park has an extremely rare ecological system, including sand dunes that should be protected but have suffered damage near the lake and beach parking lots.

Protecting the park’s natural features, maintaining ample parking and upgrading existing buildings were priorities from the public, according to the new master plan.

It’s intended that over the next 20 years, capital improvements costing $10.7 million – $11.3 million will be made.

They will include a new bandshell near the open field, two new washrooms, two new pavilions, a new canoe/kayak launch, a new lifeguard building, and a new nature education centre.

While the master plan is endorsed by council, each new project for Canatara Park will have to be approved, Glavin said.

The 2026 budget has not been set so it’s unknown what is in store for the park next year.

Meanwhile, smaller projects like new volleyball courts and playground repairs have been completed already.

And more speed bumps are being installed in parking lots and park roadways to discourage speeding, Burnard said.  Area residents complain that vehicles loudly race in Canatara during summer evenings and the city is trying to address that with more police enforcement and more speed bumps, he said.