The Crestwood Recreation Centre would be closed if the city goes ahead with the recommended course of action the parks and Recreation Master Plan. The plan was presented to council on Aug. 28, 2023 at special council of the whole meeting. (CHAT News File Photo)

By Chris Brown

Plan for new arenas also presented

Recreation Master Plan calls for new multi-purpose facility in city’s south, closure of older gyms and pools

Aug 28, 2023 | 10:58 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The City of Medicine Hat’s Parks and Recreation Master Plan is recommending the city build a new large community recreation facility in the city’s south end and a two-rink arena with an attached curling club in an undetermined location.

The proposal would see Crestwood Recreation Centre and the two YMCA facilities closed to make way for the new centre and the Moose and Hockey Hounds arenas would be demolished as well.

The recommendation is based in part on improving facility placement throughout the city. James Will, the city’s director of parks and recreation, says due to the catchment area overlap current facilities are “cannibalizing” each other competing for users and limiting the potential of each.

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He says it can be tough to say goodbye to a facility people may have a lot of memories with but from the city’s perspective the value around facilities is the utilization of them.

“If we see that members of the community are not going to some of the rec facilities we have to look at what do they value in that facility that we can then replace that in another facility that’s more modernized that meet the need for accessibility, for inclusion, affordability for people that they can go to it,” he says.

“We have to take the good that we have out of existing facilities, make sure that we have those to meet those needs of the residents that are using the existing facilities because they’re an important part of our communities.

The recommended new facilities will help boost use of the rec options and create more attractive neighbourhoods to help attract younger families to stay in or move to Medicine Hat.

Building new facilities is a more fiscally responsible option than continuing with the existing facilities, adds Will. In many cases the current facilities are more than 50 years old and are nearing if not past their intended lifespans.

Will says it would cost the city $50M over the next 10 years to maintain the status quo. The price tag to move forward with all the recommendations pegged between $160 million and $210 million.

Mayor Linnsie Clark says council has been anxiously waiting for the plan to come before it.

She calls it a good roadmap and a starting point toward discussions on design specifics and project development.

She’s pleased that roadmap calls for new facilities to be built before the current ones are closed.

“That was very important to me and some of the new ideas like the cricket field and the much-needed softball items that are in the plan, it’s really exciting to see that in there,” she said following the meeting.

The recommended sequence of building has shovels in the ground for the ice arena and southside recreation facility within five years.

Will says he expects the matter will be back at council with a capital budget request this fall to further work on design, location and building scope.