After Essondale, Cunnings took the position of Recreation Director for what was then the District of Coquitlam, rising through the ranks until eventually becoming the Director of Parks and Leisure Services. When he retired in 1994, his career as a public servant had lasted nearly half a century.
Town Centre Park
Many of the recreation facilities in the City of Coquitlam were planned for or championed by Don Cunnings. The most notable of these projects is Town Centre Park. And it was not only hard work that led to the creation of that park, but also some luck and creative thinking.
When Don Cunnings was Recreation Director, he and Don Buchanan, the City Planner, were invited to lunch at a posh Vancouver hotel by the CEO of the Lafarge Concrete company. They knew the reason for the lunch: Lafarge wanted permission to expand the quarry they operated in Coquitlam’s town centre below street level (a city bylaw at the time prevented this). Cunnings knew that council would not approve this request, but as he was sitting there, he had a brilliant idea. At that moment, the waiter came by and refilled his water glass —Don’s idea— turn the quarry into a lake when the mining was complete. Cunnings told the CEO “a park without water is like a living room without a fireplace,” which convinced the company to donate the land to Coquitlam after the mining had been complete to turn it into a park.
The first phase of creating the park was building Percy Perry Stadium, opening in 1988.