A tweaked proposal for the new Winskill Aquatic and Fitness Centre preserves some of the forested area, provides 325 parking spots, and calls for a 10-lane, 25-metre pool to be built in the northeast corner of the park, just south of the lawn bowling club on 56th Street.
City staff have come up with the new layout for the Winskill Renewal Project, by refining Option 2 (North Option) that was previewed to the public, after hearing opinions from more than 1,600 residents during the consultation process in May and June that precedes construction of the $130-million project.
“Through our engagement with the public, we learned that a significant priority for residents, when supporting a location for a new site, was the preservation of trees in the natural area,” said Jim Bauer, Delta’s director of facilities and capital projects.
The city’s proposal to replace the aging facility that’s almost half a century old, generated controversy with residents concerned about loss of trees and green space.
But the new proposal maintains the southern portion of the urban forest where most cedars and firs are located, while moving the 13U baseball diamond to the northwest corner of the site. The existing 18U and 15U baseball diamonds will remain in their current locations.
Moving the 13U baseball diamond will provide room for the new pool and fitness centre. Once open, the old building will be demolished with the resulting space used for parking.
“We heard from over 1,600 participants which included a wide range of park users and interested members of the public and have received great ideas for the new facility,” Bauer said.
Council, at its meeting on Monday, will review the proposal and decide whether to proceed and direct staff to start design work.
The proposal shelves, for the time being, a fourth baseball diamond that could be located on the southern border of the park, partway into the natural area.
Council will also be asked to consider adding a fourth field at some point in the future, pending results of a city-wide field-use analysis.
During the consultation, the idea of a fourth diamond showed that only 37 percent were in favour, while 41 percent were opposed.
Most people preferred the west option as it was seen to preserve the most trees, said JoAnne Kleb, manager of engagement.
However, the revised Option 2 reflects that by reconfiguring parking and deferring work on the fourth ball diamond, pending the field study.
“We didn’t know there was such a value on the natural area that we did learn through the engagement process,” she said.
Another takeaway from the consultation process that involved open houses, meetings and online feedback, was that a water slide, lazy river and cold-plunge pool were the three most wanted features in the aquatic centre.
Feedback about the pool, also showed that 65 percent said they were open to a 10-lane pool, while only 15 percent opposed that.
Increasing the length of the pool from 25 metres to 50 metres, suitable for competitive swimming, would have seen a 30 percent jump in costs.
Bauer said that the timeline is to have a design in place by early next year with construction to start about a year from now.
“I think this achieves a really good compromise. We know that it’s difficult to satisfy all of the user groups. so I think this approach really strikes the balance in terms of trying to best address … the diverse groups,” Bauer said.
Staff also have met with the disc golf players and are discussing either new locations or keeping some of the baskets in the newly designed park or adding some in nearby Dennison Park.
Preservation of the trees is complicated because of the 490 trees in the park, 46 percent of them are diseased. Regardless of recreation plans, the forested area would change because of the number of unstable trees that have to be removed.
Under the proposal, 226 trees will be removed, however, all options would require removing trees, which would be followed by replanting.
One option that was raised during the public engagement was relocating the whole project to the South Delta Recreation Centre however that’s not large enough and would have doubled the cost, said Bauer.
