by BRIAN SWANE, Examiner Staff
The Terwillegar Riverbend Advisory Council (TRAC) will be proposing a design option this week for the new Southwest Recreation Centre after deciding the latest drafts made public last Thursday do not fully meet the needs of the community.
TRAC’s primary concern is the four designs proposed by the city’s community services department won’t accommodate the area’s required space for court sports and soccer, says TRAC president Robert Agostinis.
TRAC’s proposed design is expected to include a fitness centre, leisure aquatics, a pool and dive tank, four ice sheets, and two “flexihalls” that can be used as a gymnasium for sports like basketball and badminton, as well as be converted into soccer pitches.
None of the four designs presented at last week’s open house included more than one flexihall, a crucial factor for TRAC.
“What we feel is that, if they build one flexihall, we know that this community will use that mainly for soccer, and it will be hard to program other sports such as basketball (and) badminton,” says Agostinis.
TRAC’s suggested design would cost approximately $96 million to build.
With just $42 million of funding currently committed from the city, money has become the sticking point in deciding which road to take the project down.
The city’s four proposals carry price tags ranging from $43.6 million to $89.6 million.
The city is pursuing additional funding both federally and provincially, says Monique St. Louis, the city’s project coordinator. “So, we’re hopeful, but obviously we can’t be certain.”
Over $20 million in funding was expected to come from the provincial government, though the process has hit a lull during Premier Ralph Klein’s transfer of power, Agostinis says.
TRAC will suggest using private funding to finance its operation.
Area resident Mehendra Jain attended Thursday’s open house and says it is crucial the current funds are put to use immediately as inflation continues to spiral construction costs upward.
“My worry is, we have been attending these meetings the last two years, and things have kind of been dragging on, so I want to see it ASAP,” says Jain, who would prefer to see the current funds used to build a bare-bones version of the facility that can accommodate expansion as future funding becomes available.
Agostinis shares Jain’s sense of urgency, but would rather see the entire facility constructed in one shot.
“Well, we know that there is no way that they’re going to build another facility in the southwest area for a long, long time, and if you were to add on in the next few years, the amount would be astronomical,” Agostinis says. “So people said, ‘You know what, let’s just build it all now. Build it all now to accommodate the 70,000 people who (are going to move into the area) in the next 10 years.’”
Community services will go to city council with the various proposals and a sampling of public feedback on June 20.
St. Louis says any designs proposed by TRAC will be included in the presentation.
“What we said is, ‘That’s great, we’ll price it out, and then we’ll include that in our council report and let council think about that as well,’” she says.
The four city options that were presented to the public last Thursday include:
Full information and a public feedback survey about the project can be found on the city’s website at http://www.edmonton.ca.