Galt Gardens Master Plan

About the Galt Gardens and the Master Plan Project

At its March 13th 2017, regular meeting, City Council received the Galt Gardens Master Plan Design Report for information. This Master Plan report was undertaken at the request of the heart of Our City Committee in order to guide the selective, future reconstruction of the City’s oldest park. In addition to creating the Master Plan itself, the project also entailed the derivation of an “order of magnitude” costing for proposed improvements.

Through an RFP competition, WSP/MMM was engaged as project consultants. The Heart of Our City Committee served as a project advisory committee. The Project Sponsor was Jeff Greene while the Co-Project Managers were George Kuhl and Michael Wilk.

The consultant team was supported by an internal project team consisting of staff members from Planning (100K+ Conversations), Parks, and Facility Services Departments. Internal City Department stakeholders included the following Departments: Communications; Transportation; Waste & Recycling; Electric; Water, Wastewater & Storm Water; Community Asset Management; Community & Social Development; Galt Museum & Archives; the Public Art Committee; Recreation and Culture; and the Lethbridge Police Service.

Community stakeholders invited to participate included: the SAAG; Lethbridge Horticultural Society; Chamber of Commerce; the Rotary Clubs of Lethbridge; CMARD; Diversion Outreach Team; Allied Arts Council; CASA; LSCO; Youth Advisory Council; and landowners with property facing onto each side of Galt Gardens.

The Master Planning Process included the creation of a “Vision” for the park that was generated through the first phase of stakeholder consultation process together with technical assessments and steering committee refinement. The vision that was derived led to the creation of design principles on which 4 design concepts were built. The second phase of the consultation process helped to identify various elements from the 4 design concepts which were then incorporated into the “preferred” design concept.

Once the preferred concept was created, 3 potential phases of development were identified:

• Phase 1: primary pathways, new/replacement trees, new kiosk/restroom/storage; memorial gardens.
• Phase 2: secondary pathways, locomotive relocation, new trees, water feature, new & enhanced plazas, additional kiosks, and a new pavilion.
• Phase 3: redevelopment of existing plaza within the existing pergola, a tensile fabric roof structure and an additional kiosk.

If the project is approved in the forthcoming Capital Improvement Plan, project timing could look like this:

• Detailed design is suggested to commence in 2018
• Phase 1 construction: 2019 [estimated to cost: $1,945,000]
• Phase 2 construction: 2020 [estimated to cost: $2,261,000]
• Phase 3 construction: 2021 [estimated to cost: $ 969,000]

Click here to access the entire report.