$23 million recreation centre going up in Lakeside

LAKESIDE, N.S. — A $23 million recreation centre — that was estimated to cost $10 million four years ago — will be going up this year in Lakeside.

The Beechville Lakeside Timberlea Community Centre will replace the 68-year-old school-turned-rec-centre in Lakeside. HRM has a request for proposals on its procurement site which closes on Friday.

It’s an 18-month job which will start with the demolition of the old building. HRM expects the centre to open in 2025. The 14,930-square-foot facility will feature a full-size gymnasium, multi-purpose rooms, playgrounds, a splashpad and a community kitchen.

It’s at least a decade in the making in this rapidly expanding neighbourhood, but some residents say they were hoping for more.

Where’s the pool?

“In general, I’m thankful that that old thing is being replaced and we’re getting something modern,” said Charlene Tasco, who lives in Timberlea.

But she said she’s disappointed that it won’t have a pool or a fitness room.

“Those are kind of big misses, I think, when you’re building a centre like that. I have chronic pain issues and my physiotherapist and my doctor often talk about swimming being one of those things that’s good for me but I’m also not somebody who likes to travel too much outside my community unless I have to.”

Patty Richardson-Wright said she doesn’t understand building a recreation centre without these.

“I, like many others, will still have to drive in town if we are lucky enough to own a car or take three buses to go to the closest HRM rec centre at Chocolate Lake which has a small fitness centre,” she wrote in a message.

Tasco said she has to drive into Halifax to go swimming.

“Traffic is worse and worse, and weather is often not great. I would love to have some kind of pool for that reason,” Tasco said. “A splash pad is great but that’s two months of the year that probably that will be open.”

Something like the Captain William Spry Community Centre in Spryfield with the pool, library, fitness centre and multi-purpose rooms would have been ideal.

“We’ve got a lot more money in the community now. These houses are not cheap and these folks are moving into the area that have more money to spend and maybe to contribute if we have fundraisers and things like that,” she said.

She added that she wasn’t a part of the consultations so she doesn’t want to seem unappreciative, but those are on her wish list and many other neighbours feel the same way.

It was tough enough — and long enough — just to get this built, said Iain Rankin, MLA for Timberlea-Prospect.

“If we go higher than that, then it may never happen or it could take longer than it should and people need this now,” he said. 

Recreation is HRM’s mandate and he said that the Canada Games Centre is considered a regional facility and serves that area.

“I’m sure people would like to have a hockey rink, too, and all kinds of things, but just having a space that we can proudly call a recreation centre is a big win for us.”

Coun. Iona Stoddard (Timberlea – Beechville – Clayton Park – Wedgewood) said in an interview Thursday that the costs for a pool were just too high for this project, plus there would be annual operational costs to handle as well.

“I know a lot of residents were disappointed, especially the parents, so what we ended up with is a splash pad so the kids can get out and splash around when it’s hot. That was the compromise,” she said.

The big cost increase

In Sept. 2020, when the construction cost estimate was approximately $10 million (beyond costs for the design, etc.), the province announced it would contribute more than $3.2 million with the feds chipping in $3.9 million. At the time, it was announced HRM would contribute $2.6 million, but since the cost estimates have increased, the municipality will be taking on the bulk of the cost ($15.9 million).

Stoddard said it was supposed to be built last year but was delayed due to those escalating costs.

And they also removed several items from the original design, including a second level, Stoddard said, to keep the costs from going any higher.

“I would say the main things, just like other builds right now, getting construction workers, the price of lumber, interest rates (are the reasons for the cost increase). I think a lot of that pushed it up and of course, COVID didn’t help,” said Stoddard.

“The cost of things just took us over the top, the interest, the architects, all of those costs just went up.”

It will make a big difference

This is a long time coming. Rankin said this is one of the last, if not the last, urban communities in HRM to have its own community centre. He said he found HRM documents from the ‘90s that said recreation assets in that area were deficient.

“It’s really just modernizing the existing site and it’s at the same location but it will allow for both competitive recreation and some flex space for things like community meetings and programming,” he said.

“There are a lot of new businesses opening up and we needed this investment for mostly the youth, but it is all ages.”

Enrollment in SLAM, St. Margarets Bay minor basketball program has expanded in recent years along with the growth in the community, but they have to find places to play with school rentals.

Andrea Johnston SLAM club manager said it’s a balancing act to find the right spaces.

“Oftentimes it means a compromise in that we have older athletes/bigger bodies in smaller, less suitable gyms or placing younger players in a time that isn’t always ideal (meaning they get home a little later than most parents might like on a school night),” she wrote in an email. “So having a facility that could help manage this criteria and perhaps even wear the SLAM logo as our home gym, would be amazing.”

The Lakeside Community Centre was shut down in December in preparation for the demolition.