HomeMy WebLinkAboutLakeshore Advance, 2013-02-13, Page 19�a,
Community Master Plan calls for refurbishing. existingapool���. 19
CONTINUED FROM > PAGE 1
this 49 -year old pool- but rather a
four season aquatic facility.
In November 2009 dmA Planning
& Management Services presented
the Community Master Plan to this
council. The Master Plan included
an assessment of future facility and
parkland needs over the next ten
years. These needs were driven by
the current capacity and use of facil-
ities, public input, activity participa-
tion and facility trends, and the
changing socio -demographic char-
acteristics of the community. Dur-
ing the period of the Master Plan, a
stable population is anticipated,
Ofore, with the exception of a
utdoor facility needs that
respond to growth activities, the
focus of the needs assessment is on
improving and redeveloping what
currently exists and making better
use of existing facilities.
South Huron CAO Roy Hardy
says, "With respect to the Master
Plan, we have been working on its
recommendations since it was
adopted; the largest projects suc-
cessfully completed to date have
been the Crediton Sportsplex, devel-
oping long term agreements for Port
Blake Park and the Warner Field in
Exeter. These next two projects
combined will have the largest
scope of all the projects outlined in
the Master Plan:'
The Master Plan recommenda-
tions stated the existing arenas
would serve the Municipality over
the next ten years. "Beyond this
timeframe, arena needs should be
reassessed. Redevelopment of the
Exeter Arena change rooms and
washrooms should be the priority
for the short term. The Exeter Out-
door Pool should be upgraded and
unproved to continue to meet the
community's aquatic needs over the
life of this plan. A parks master plan
sh Ad be prepared and a range of
i>/
.wements identified for the site
iat she site amenities. Considera-
tion should be given to adding a
major splash pad/ water play fea-
ture to the pool, an improved and
expanded washroom/change mon)
facility, in addition to other site
iunenities and improvements.
CONSULTATION ACTIVITY
SUMMARY
Techniques were employed to
ensure a broad range of community
and stakeholder input to the plan-
ning process. The municipality did
an on-line community survey
involving 174 households, a detailed
survey of and meeting with sport,
recreation and culture facility user
groups, with 23 responding groups,
submissions and briefs from com-
munity and volunteer organiza-
tions, interviews with key municipal
staff and other major service part-
ners; focus groups with seniors,
youth, service clubs, community
volunteers, health and social service
providers, and hall hoard
representatives as well as a commu-
nity forum.
It was often suggested in this
communication that the plan
should focus on greater or expanded
use of existing facilities. This was
both under-utilized facilities (e.g.,
the community halls) and possible
upgrades to existing facilities that
would expand use (e.g., a refur-
bished outdoor pool, expanded soc-
cer fields). Most participants felt that
South Huron's emphasis in the short
terra should be on improving and
upgrading existing resources, rather
than providing new facilities.
SH -RALLY
The SH -RALLY group came
together in response to learning of
the South Huron council's decision
to refurbish two already aging facili-
ties, the outdoor pool at Mac -
Naughton Park and the South
Huron Recreation Centre Arena.
The concern was that moving for-
ward with a retrofit before complet-
ing a full feasibility analysis would
not be in the best interest of our
community and would impact the
community's funding for recreation,
arts and leisure in the future.
k is this group's belief that the fea-
sibility analysis cannot move ahead
until further community input is
received. They needed to find out if
there is any support from the com-
munity for improving the recrea-
tion, arts and leisure facilities, pro-
grams and services in South I luron.
It was their hopes that if there were
support, it would be important to
find out where the support lies so
the feedback could be conveyed to
council for consideration.
This group put together a com-
munity input survey for the resi-
dents of South Huron and sur-
rounding areas. The topic for this
survey was for the future of recrea-
tion, arts and leisure programs, serv-
ices and facilities in South l Iuron.
The group's focus was to be "pro-
gressive on community matters
with the purpose to attract and
retain residents and businesses to
our community which would ena-
ble the community to remain
vibrant, viable and grow."
The survey went out with more
than 9(X) responses. But, the people
of the western part of the munici-
pality, Oakwood and Grand Cove
Estates said they did not get the sur-
vey until November 20, giving them
only 10 days to check it ()tit- where
the people in other parts of the
municipality had 40 days to peruse
the document.
( Cove resident Cam'laylor
was permitted to speak at the enol of
last week's meeting and told the
forum he takes issue with their (SI !-
Rally's) assumption that the opinion
of 640 (rand Cove residents and
125 Oakwood residents would not
have any impact on the survey
results. (A response from this group
explained to Taylor that the data
collected from them was so small it
would not impact the overall man-
date and results.)'llrylor argued that
the reason it was so small was
because the residents did not have
the survey. A member told the Lake-
shore Advance the councilor for the
ward; Bill Francis had the informa-
tion to forward to his residents, in
July. Francis is in Florida until March
but did e-mail that, "I didn't have
the survey form from the SF i -Rally
and I don't recall saying that 1 would
pass anything on to the people in
(rand Cove. I never even attended
any of their meetings because i
wasn't even on that committee. The
SII -Rally never gave me anything
and 1 also never met any one from
the committee. Never saw anyone
from that committee until we had
the committee of the whole meeting
Monday Jan 28 2013 of which some
where there at that meeting and I
wasn't introduced to any of them"
Taylor told the forum at last
week's meeting, "i take issue that
the survey appeared in the Exeter
paper and not the Lakeshore
Advance. i take issue that no copies
were supplied to the (rand Cove
office. I wonder if your group had
any real interest in our opinion or
was the survey just for the residents
of Exeter," Taylor asked. The e-mail
from SII -Rally explained that Taylor
could come to the February 5th
meeting to provide the collective
views of Grand Cove to the archi-
tects, communicating his views at
that time. It did not appear that any-
one told the architects this was
forthcoming and Taylor wttitec1 until
the enol of the meeting to express his
views.
Grand Cove and Oakwood are
segments of the Stephen Ward,
which represents 45% of the assess-
ment. Hardy told the Lakeshore
Advance this translates into a much
lower total of taxes due to the agri-
cultural nature of the area.
iNVISIJ ARCIIiTI:(;HS
In November, South Huron
reported that six proposals were
received for the South flown Rec-
reation (:entre and five for the Exe-
ter and District Swimming
Pool. Staff reconinrended that Invisij
Architects Inc. be awarded the
Request for Proposals for both the
Recreation Centre and laeter Pool.
Preliminary Design and (costing for
refurbishing the South 1 luron Rec-
reation Centre and the Exeter and
District Swimming Pool is
$42,030.00. The Budget for these
projects is $9(1,000. Members of
Si I -Rally said they had asked cotta
til to wait until their survey was
completed before they hired but
that did not happen.
COMMUNITY (ROMPS
The architects asked a series of
questions, asking if there were fea-
tures of the existing facility the
groups liked, improvements and
enhancements needed, what they
did not like and want removed, areas that
needed repaired and their top three wish
list. Most of the group answered the top
three wish list. Brittany Fry spoke for the BIA
stating they expected a comprehensive long
term study, that it be 100% run by the
municipality and there be no capital dollars
spent until there was a full feasibility study
done. 'they also support the work that SI 1 -
Rally has done- supporting what the com-
munity wants.
'1'om !lanai spoke for the lions Club say-
ing they support the BIA want and also sup-
port SI1- Rally and the community wants.
'the South I luron Optimist rep Joanna Cala-
musa said they want a splash pad, the pool
being assessable to all and support the SI 1 -
Rally group.
Rick I lundey spoke for Community Liv-
ing saying the want the pool to be assessable
for their clients and programs for their cli-
ents who are developmentally challenged as
well as general improvements for the 49 -
year old pool. Christina Godbolt spoke for
SII -Rally said the community wants a four -
season pool that is a facility for all ages with
all swimming abilities, accessible and avail-
able to all income levels. Exeter I lawks said
they would like to see the pool integrated
into the arena facility so it could be used all
year. South I luron Chamber said although
their group have not met but wanted to
know the architect's mandate.1 le was told
the mandate was for the refurbishing of the
existing facility although they have much
experience with four season complexes
including YMCAs. Wang said they were
happy to talk about an indoor pool but that
was not their mandate. Deb Oke- 23 - year
owner of the now defunct Kicks Aquatic
Centre said there are a lot of changes needed
for the existing pool. She said there has been
nothing done to the pool since she was a
child. She listed the shallow end being too
deep, the ladders not good for seniors or
handicapped, the lifeguard towers not safe
and the length too short for swim teams. She
thought splash pad was a needed feature.
She agreed it should be year round. A local
mom said South I luron needs an indoor
pool for "time of year':1 ler kids have sports
commitments and Kicks was good for those
times when the kids were not in organized
sports. Thin Siep, the municipal Io)oI opera-
tor said the pool was in pretty good shape
considering it is 49 -years old. I le said the
plumbing and electrical were out of date
and there were other things that needed to
meet current codes and this would all be
adhered to with a refurbishing. I lundey sug-
gested council look at neighbouring facilities
such as Goderich and St, Marys to see what
challenges they met with. A resident said she
did take her kids to the Oakwood pool and
although she had the capabilities of driving
to Grand Bend and paying the $25.00 for
then) to swim, many cannot. "People need
to be able to walk to the facility:' she said.
Phil Potter from the Exeter I i'awks said in the
interest of transparency and disclosure, he
wanted to hear from a staff member. CAO
Roy !lardy said council has given them
direction that relates to the 2009 Commu-
nity Master Plan. I le said the recommenda-
tion was to refurbish the current pool and
this prompted council to go forward to pro-
vide the numbers for costs for the upgrades
to the pool and rec centre. Steve Riddell, a
member of SI 1- Rally said since the Master
Plan was done- the inventory has changed,
referring to the closure of Kicks. i le sug-
gested they review the Master Plan.
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