Central Park Development Concept Proposes
Partnership Between Town and YMCA To
Create Multi-use Facility
Collingwood Council has unanimously passed a motion that will see the Town and YMCA move forward to examine the possibility of creating a multi-use facility at Central Park. Director of Leisure Services Marta Proctor and Tom Coon, CEO, YMCA of Simcoe Muskoka, participated in a presentation to council on Monday, March 28th.
In her presentation, Proctor stated that expanded aquatics and ice surfaces have been clearly identified as the biggest needs in terms of recreational facilities in Collingwood. She also stated that Central Park has been identified as the number one location in town to locate a multi-use facility. adding that thte expansions would meet community needs for up to 20 years. Proctor outlined benefits to the Central Park location, saying that it would help to keep the downtown area vibrant and build on existing assets and investments in providing needed services to the citizens of Collingwood.
The proposed partnership would see the Town and YMCA work together to plan to update and expand existing facilities. The YMCA Strategic Plan 2012 includes expansion and renovation of Collingwood YMCA. In 2008, the Town of Collingwood approved $1.5 million towards pool expansion to be taken from reserves in 2010, however the current council has deferred the funding. The YMCA had applied for funding from Provincial and Federal Government, but did not receive funding for Collingwood project. The YMCA has launched local fundraising to help expand the pool to six lanes. All of these developments, combined with the town's need for additional ice surfaces and the uncertain future of the town-owned Contact Centre has brought the Town and YMCA together with a plan to investigate creating a partnership to create a much needed multi-use centre at Central Park.
Council has agreed that Town staff and YMCA staff should continue cooperatively investigating matters of design, cost & funding, and work with key community leaders to approach Provincial and Federal Government for funding support. The motion approved by council on Monday night (March 28th) stated that staff would be encouraged to work with key community leaders, organizations and agencies to seek alternative funding sources, including accessing any Provincial and Federal funding programs.
Councilor Dale West stated that the presentation was an exciting one for council and the town to see. "It was important to support the motion because now, over the next two months, staff and the YMCA can look at the first real opportunity to address the issue of the multi-use facility question since the town returned the Superbuild money. To investigate a public-private partnership possibility is a good start. In my mind there is no doubt the need is there, and that need is a priority."
Deputy Mayor Rick Lloyd has been a supporter of creating a multi-use centre at Central Park for years. He said that the town may now have an opportunity to do what needed to be done eight years ago. He said that council decided not to move forward with the construction of a multi-use facility at that time, despite receiving more than $8.4 million in federal and provincial grants. "It came down to one dissenting vote and I won't let that happen again."
Councilor Ian Chadwick was concerned about a potential issue that might come from a plan to alter the appearance of the curling club as it is a designated heritage building, but encouraged the parties to move forward to investigate the opportunities to expand the facilities. Chadwick asked if there was a plan in place to re-locate the existing lawn bowling facility that would be eliminated to add the second ice surface to the site.
Councilor Keith Hull wanted residents to know that council is only investigating the possibilities of expanding facilities through a partnership with the Y at this point. "We're simply putting our foot in the water to test where this may go. I think there is a tremendous opportunity here."
Proctor said council could expect a report update in approximately 8 weeks complete with recommendations.
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