Parks and Recreation

Richmond's parks and trails, facilities, programs and services are designed and delivered to provide the greatest benefit to the community as a whole, and to promote personal growth and enhance the quality of life of individual participants. Programs and services are planned to respond to the diverse and changing community needs and to minimize barriers to access.

The City provides and maintains over 145 parks, 73 kilometres of trails and recreation facilities including the Richmond Nature Park, nine community centres, four pools, two arenas and the Richmond Pitch and Putt Golf Course.

Community Services Needs Assessment

The City of Richmond conducts a community-wide study, approximately every 5 years, to better understand the perspectives of residents on current Community Services programs and services, including parks, recreation, arts, culture, heritage and libraries. This study helps inform the planning and delivery of future facilities, programs and services.

2023

The 2023 Community Services Needs Assessment took place from Thursday, February 16 to Sunday, March 12 through an online and phone survey. The findings will be reported on soon.

2015

The 2015 Community Needs Assessment provided valuable information to help staff and stakeholder organizations better understand residents' participation in and satisfaction with the City's facilities, programs and services.

2015 Community Needs Assessment - Highlights

PRCS Facilities Strategic Plan

Following major investment for both the Richmond Olympic Oval and in meeting community needs for parks, it was recognized that there was a need to examine facility and amenity needs across the entire city.

In early 2007, a PRCS Facility Evaluation Framework and Evaluation Toolkit were developed to provide PRCS with a process to enable staff to consistently examine and prioritize potential investment in PRCS facility and amenity projects. Twenty-one projects were identified and prioritized and then were examined to determine location and synergies (how amenities could be grouped for development) and to outline an appropriate phasing of projects. The resulting PRCS Facilities Strategic Plan, which was endorsed by City Council in June 2007, addresses a long-term PRCS strategy for replacing, retrofitting and upgrading existing buildings and for new facility development.

Volunteer Management Strategy

The Volunteer Management Strategy 2018-2021, endorsed by Council in September 2018, focuses on supporting volunteers in their development and achievement of their personal goals, as well as further supporting City,partner and affiliate staff who work closely with volunteers. Through reaching out to various community partners, staff strengthened the strategy to ensure its strategic initiatives and action items detailed will be impactful.

Find out more about the Volunteer Management Strategy 2018-2021.

Waterfront Strategy

Endorsed by Council in 2009, this strategy aims to re-position Richmond’s waterfront. The strategy's vision is that:

“Richmond is a community that celebrates its rich past and recognises the full potential of its island legacy – a dynamic, productive and sustainable world-class waterfront”.

The intent of the Waterfront Strategy: Redefining Living on the Edge is:

To promote coordination and integration by increasing awareness of the complexity of managing the waterfront and of the need to work together to achieve the City’s overall Vision.
To provide a basis for developing policies to be included in the new Official Community Plan and for further work towards developing a detailed Waterfront Sustainability Strategy.
To establish a management approach to promote coordination and integration, and to monitor progress and success over the next three years.