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Open Letter: Size Matters
November 17th, 2006
November 17, 2006 - We are writing today to set the record straight with regard to activities attributed to our group in the November 10 issue of the Clayton Park Weekly News and the November Issue of the Parkview News.
Build it Right continues to meet on a regular basis as a voluntary Citizen's Action Group with a single and clear mandate: To work cooperatively with HRM to achieve their stated vision of establishing a state of the art, multi-dimensional facility to serve residents of the western region of Halifax Regional Municipality for the next 30 years by providing a venue for activities that promotes healthy and active living.
To this end we have attempted ongoing communications with government at all levels, non-governmental agencies, sport and recreation groups, businesses and members of the community.
Recently the Halifax Regional Municipality has announced a partnership with the YMCA for the construction and management of the new facility on the Mainland Common.
After several meetings with representatives of the YMCA and HRM Staff to discuss their vision for this new facility, our group is left with more questions than answers.
The proposed facility is alarmingly similar to the existing and aging Northcliffe Pool. In fact the first phase, even with the running track included in the updated design would only be 3000 square feet larger than Northcliffe. On completion of the second phase of construction the facility will be only 57,000 square feet. To put this into perspective; Cole Harbor Place is currently comprised of 152,000 square feet to service a catchment area of 42,000 people. The catchment area for the Mainland Common facility exceeds 120,000 residents.
While our group has offered to work with the developers and managers of this new facility, we have identified some very serious concerns that must be addressed. Principal among these are the issues of access and accommodation.
The YMCA is a membership-driven organization which offers a wide variety of in-house programming for their members. Comparable data from similar sized YMCA facilities have suggested that a Mainland Commons YMCA could expect upwards of 8,000 members at a monthly rate of $350.00 +/member. By it's very nature, membership is exclusionary. Aside from the barrier presented by membership fees, the very thought of membership will prevent many families in our communities from even considering use of the facility.
Meetings with community sport and recreation leaders revealed their greatest fear was that a facility funded by the taxpayers of Halifax West would add no benefit to the outstanding lack of sport infrastructure in our under-serviced area. For example, with the construction of the new ice facilities in Bedford , the Bedford/Lower Sackville area will be served by no less than eight ice surfaces. Halifax West, on the other hand, continues to be served only by the 40 year old Centennial Arena.
Access to adequate dry land facilities, appropriate aquatic and meeting facilities for the many organized sports and community groups in our region have not been adequately addressed at this time. Access to the pool, fitness and meeting areas will be negligible given the busy YMCA programming schedule. Development of any sports and recreation facility on the Mainland Common must address these crucial issues of accommodation of new and existing organizations and access to the less advantaged members of our community who could most benefit.
Build It Right has been working on behalf of our entire community with the YMCA and HRM on the proper development of a Mainland Common Recreation Centre. To avoid duplication of facilities we feel that the best interests of the taxpayers will be served by putting this project on hold until the Commonwealth Games are announced in November 2007. While awaiting this decision HRM should commission an independent "needs assessment” (the previous one was commissioned in 1997-98) to ensure that an informed, intelligent, and fiscally responsible decision regarding facility requirements for our area can be made. Further to this, the HRM should develop a master plan for the entire Mainland Common Recreation area that will provide facilities for the under-serviced, rapidly growing population of the whole Western Region.
Build it Right is pleased to have played a significant role in convincing the HRM to rethink their initial funding ceiling of $5.3M to the current $14.5M. However we are redoubling our efforts to make sure that people in our area are best served by a multi-dimensional sport and recreation facility that meets the needs of the community.
Susan Kirkland &
Craig Durling; Co-Chairs
Build it Right,
Citizen's Action Committee
