What to do with the old Canoe Club?

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/02/2017 (3325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When I was a kid in the 1970s, the Canoe Club was a private club with various racquet sports, a swimming pool and a nine hole golf course.  

It all disappeared over the decades (that’s a separate column) leaving only the golf course. These days, the City owns the 48-acre golf course and it is open to the public for play, but the City leases out operations and maintenance of the course on a five-year term.

 
I was delighted to gain approval of $1 million in the 2017 City budget for Canoe Club “re-invention”. The current lease of the golf course to a private operator expires in April 2019, and in my view, it’s time to “call the question” and have a community discussion about the future of this green space. The City’s new office of public engagement will be involved in making this a broad, public consultation exercise.  

I have already spoken with tennis, soccer and cricket groups about potentially converting some of the property for their sports. In the case of tennis it would be a return — as the original Canoe Club had several courts and served as the tennis venue for the 1967 Pan Am Games. We may be able to tie in with neighbouring Windsor Community Centre. Maybe we can add facilities that nearby Glenlawn students could use for phys-ed. It’s an exciting opportunity for St. Vital.

“Re-invention” does not necessarily mean the golf course is “doomed”. Many people use the course and will want to preserve it. In fact, the budget states if the lease is simply renewed in 2019 the $1 million can be moved to other nearby parks. Also, we may be able to reconfigure some holes on the course to free up space for other sports — the course has already survived two reconfigurations, due to the construction of the St. Vital Bridge, and later the sale of part of the first fairway for condos.

So far many St. Vitalers have told me, “I don’t care if it’s still a golf course, but keep it as open space and don’t sell it all for development”, and this seems like a good starting principle to me. My hope is to have a plan ready for June, 2018. I look forward to hearing from many of you as the consultations get underway.