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The City of Calgary has released its highest priority recreation projects, which includes building new facilities as well as upgrades and renovations on existing recreation centres across the city.
The 17 projects are among the first wave of GamePLAN, the city’s 25-year strategy to address a growing strain on the public recreation system caused by aging facilities, rising costs and a rapidly-growing population.
GamePLAN was approved by the previous city council, which endorsed the most ambitious funding option of between $200 million and $250 million annually.
According to the strategy, that option will increase the availability of swimming lessons by 40 per cent per capita, bookable hours at ice sheets by 25 per cent, more than double the bookable hours at indoor fields and ensure that 86 per cent of Calgarians live within five km of an aquatic facility.
The first wave of projects includes:
- Forest Lawn Aquatic & Fitness Centre Redevelopment
- Northeast Athletic Complex
- New Brighton Athletic Park Upgrade
- Calgary West Soccer Centre Dome Relocation
- Rocky Ridge Fieldhouse
- Southland Leisure Centre Renovation and Expansion
- Woodbine Athletic Park Upgrade
- Kingsland Athletic Park
- Foothills Aquatic & Fitness Centre Redevelopment
- Shouldice Arena Redevelopment
- Shouldice Athletic Park Upgrade
- Foothills Multisport Fieldhouse
- Foothills Athletic Park Upgrade
- Belmont Athletic Park
- Belmont Aquatics & Fitness Centre
- Great Plains Arena Expansion
- Westside Recreation Centre Renovation and Expansion
The focus of the first wave of projects, according to the city, is system stabilization by renewing aging facilities and expanding capacity.
“We looked at the facilities that were the oldest and needed a renovation or an upgrade because of their condition,” said Florent Le Berre with the City of Calgary Recreation & Social Programs.
“But also where are the major service gaps that we had especially in the growth areas; we have what we call ‘recreation deserts’ where we don’t have facilities at all serving those new communities.”
The list does include projects that are already underway, including the Beltmont Athletic Park and expansion of the Southland Leisure Centre, as well as projects that are either funded or partially funded and on city-owned land.
The Northeast Athletic Complex is currently undergoing design, with construction expected to begin next year after city council approved $65 million from reserves in its most recent budget for the project.
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The facility is expected to include a 162,500-square-foot indoor fieldhouse, indoor and outdoor turf fields as well as a competition-capable cricket field.
Its inclusion on the first list of priority projects came as “encouraging news” to Hamza Tariq, a former Canadian national cricketer and founder of the Future Cricket Stars Academy in Calgary.
“Overall as a community hub, it’s going to be such a positive space for our community to thrive and grow and cricket to flourish,” Tariq told Global News.
Local cricket players face several facility-related challenges in Calgary, Tariq said, including a lack of spaces, safety hazards, and improperly sized fields, which has resulted in injuries to players.
“When you’re playing a sport you don’t want to be thinking of such things because you’re going guns blazing, you’re running at full speed, you’re trying to do your best,” he said.
The prioritized projects also include several redevelopment, renovations and upgrades at existing facilities across the city.
According to Candice Goudie, the newly appointed president of Sport Calgary, the majority of public recreation facilities in Calgary are upwards of 40 years old and require some attention.
“Some of us have been using these facilities our entire life, and some of us are new to them, and the bones are good in a lot of the infrastructure here,” she said.
“Where the city can reinvent, reimagine, renovate, and expand, that’s a great thing to do because they’re built in areas that are densely populated and very familiar to Calgarians.”
According to a report on the prioritization of GamePLAN’s projects, the total cost of completing all the projects in the first wave is expected to be $1.7 billion, including $691 million required in the upcoming four-year budget.
Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness said city council will really need to focus on where to allocate tax dollars in the budget while also meeting the needs of Calgarians.
“We can’t fund everything, and we have to say this is what Calgarians have been asking the most from us, and start funding those appropriately, and say no to others,” she said.
The priority projects include a potential relocation of the Calgary West Soccer Dome, which would make way for a potential construction of a new water treatment plant.
The current facility is located near the Bearspaw Water Treatment Plant, where the new plant could potentially be built.
In a statement, Calgary Minor Soccer Association executive director Carlo Bruneau said the association has been working closely with the city for the past year on a “long-term path forward” for the soccer facility.
“We’re optimistic that the collaborative process underway can help secure the facility’s long-term future,” Bruneau said in a statement. “Losing an existing year-round facility would run counter to the broader goal of improving service levels and expanding access to recreation opportunities.”
According to Bruneau, the soccer association hopes to have greater clarity on the facility’s future by the end of the year.
Le Berre said no decisions have been made and including the project on the priority list is precautionary.
“Our priority will be service continuity, and so we’re asking for this budget just in case we need to move fast,” he told Global News.
“Once we get direction, we will need to work right away to moving that soccer dome to another location.”
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