CORRECTION: The city council did not ultimately vote to allow swimming in the Sterling Creek Park Lake. It was brought up for discussion only and will be voted upon by the city council at its next meeting. Visit the City of Richmond Hill's website for more information.

Sterling Creek Park will add swimming to its range of offerings, according to the latest Richmond Hill city council workshop meeting.

The park opened up in 2017 and already has its own bike and walking trails, and Mayor Russ Carpenter is hopeful that opening up the nearby lake to swimming will increase its appeal to families and young people.

“If you ever hear anybody, especially those 25 and younger, [say] ‘We love Richmond Hill, but there’s nothing for us to do’, because I think we’ve had that lake over there, but for years we’ve operated a look-don’t-t ouch-policy for anything beside fishing,” Carpenter said.

The mayor later went on to say that planning is in place to have the park’s lake to be open for swimmers by March 2024.

However, swimming is just the start for Sterling Creek Park, according to Mayor Carpenter. Fishing will still be supported, as well as kayaking, canoeing, and boating.

“I don’t want to get hung up on just swimming, because it is allowing some maybe non-motorized boats, kayaks, canoes, small fishing boats and so forth,” Mayor Carpenter said.

Sterling Creek’s lake has already piqued interest, as the mayor remarked that a recent Facebook photo had people asking lots of questions about the lake.

“It’s a gorgeous lake, it’s a good asset,” Mayor Carpenter said.

“And so we might as well open it up and let people enjoy it.”