Some city recreation facilities deteriorating past point of usability

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This article was published 24/03/2021 (1821 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some of Winnipeg’s pools, arenas and community centres are so old, they are on the verge of being unusable.

A city report notes most of those facilities were built in the 1960s and 1970s and don’t meet modern accessibility standards.

“Our community loves those facilities… but they are not in great shape,” said Ken McKim, manager of Winnipeg community services’ asset management office.

McKim said some sites are at risk of deteriorating “to the point where they basically close themselves.”

A new proposal aims to revamp recreation options over the next 25 years by amalgamating or replacing some aging facilities and finding new operators for others.

The city is seeking public input on its draft recreation strategy, with a desire to update facilities it says are being maintained “at a crisis response level.”

McKim said the proposed strategy aims to better maintain recreation facilities, and hopefully add new ones, in the coming decades.

That could affect many of the facilities where Winnipeggers spend a lot of their free time. For example, the strategy describes community centre amalgamation as “an effective means of optimizing and repositioning older and smaller community centres.”

The city owns 63 separate community centres that are operated by community boards, which include 81 facilities when satellite locations are factored in. In addition, eight leisure centres are owned and operated by the city.

The report estimates the city needs to keep about 60 to 70 facilities to meet its service targets.

McKim stressed any amalgamations would be community driven, not imposed by the city.

“It’s not going to be the city telling which centres to close. It has to be the community saying ‘this makes sense for us,’” he said.

The municipality could also move away from operating nine of its 12 arenas. The strategy recommends the city seek requests for proposals from community or private groups to run those rinks or create new facilities to replace them.

The strategy says the city should continue to operate the Ab McDonald Memorial, Sam Southern and Charlie Gardiner arenas.

For indoor pools, the strategy calls for the city to pursue five or six regional recreation complexes. These could include renovations of facilities and new building complexes, the latter of which could cost tens of millions of dollars. While some “single-use” pools could be decommissioned, the city could still wind up with the same number of pools overall, McKim said.

It’s not clear what such changes would cost. The report does suggest the city consider a dedicated property tax hike, revenue from a new impact fee (should one be added), new user fees and government or private partnerships as options to fund the ideas.

“We’re asking the public, if we want some of our facilities better maintained, if we want some new facilities, how do we pay for it?” said McKim.

To weigh in on the strategy, visit winnipeg.ca/recandparks.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga