TRAC and the Leger District Park Multi-Purpose Facility
What is “TRAC”?
“TRAC” is the acronym for the Terwillegar Riverbend Advisory Council, a society formed under the Alberta Societies Act on December 1, 2003, under the direction of the community leagues for Riverbend, Brookview and The Ridge. The directors of TRAC, known as “Community Ambassadors”, are presently appointed by the active community leagues in the Terwillegar, Riverbend and Windermere areas, with one Community Ambassador representing each of the neighbourhoods identified by the City of Edmonton and falling within the area bounded by the North Saskatchewan River, Whitemud Creek and 41 Avenue SW.
The present population of the Terwillegar Riverbend area is approximately 35,000 and is expanding rapidly toward its target of 66,514 residents. At build out, Windermere is expected to accommodate a population of 63,000. As the Windermere area is developed, TRAC’s southern boundary will retreat to the Anthony Henday freeway.
TRAC’s mission is:
To enhance the quality of life through neighbourhood representation with a unified voice speaking to the common interests of home, school, recreation and assembly by creating a "towne within a city".
The first objective for TRAC, identified by the Community Ambassadors and members of our community at large, is to facilitate the building of a multi-purpose recreational and cultural facility on the City of Edmonton’s Leger District Park site.
Members of TRAC have been working for a number of years to raise community awareness of the multi-purpose facility proposal and have advocated successfully for the identification of the Leger District Park site as one of the City’s first two priorities (along with North Central Edmonton) for a new recreational facility. TRAC has been accepted by the City of Edmonton as the primary point of access to our communities, for the purposes of informing the citizenry and garnering appropriate feedback as to the requirements of a multi-purpose recreational facility.
Since formalization of its organizational structure in December, 2003, TRAC has held regular meetings and has attracted community members to its advocacy, communications and fundraising committees. TRAC’s advocacy committee has maintained close contact with the City of Edmonton’s administration and City Council, and made presentations to City Council in support of the Recreation Facility Master Plan, amendments to the Leger District Park Area Structure Plan, and the commitment of preliminary project funding in the 2005 City budget. TRAC has also been invited to participate with the City of Edmonton in the selection of a design firm to prepare an initial schematic design and budget for the Leger District Park multi-use facility and to continue to assist the City and Sahuri Hutchinson Brezezinski Architects in completion of those initial plans.
The next step is to formalize a credible, well-organized fundraising committee, to work with the City of Edmonton to approach other levels of government, private partners and community members for project funding. Broad community support will be essential to the fundraising effort.