The Northwest Community Centre in Oshawa, Ont. will include a variety of uses under one roof and what those uses will be was revealed at a committee meeting last month.
Anand Desai, associate planner with Monteith-Brown Planning Consultants Ltd., made a presentation on the future Northwest Community Centre preliminary analysis at the meeting.
“This is a multi-partner, multi-use facility where we see some really strong efficiencies,” Desai told the committee. “We really see this as a shared space between a number of city and city-supported agencies.”
The process involved consultation with many community groups.
“One of the words we often heard through the consultation process was flagship or destination,” Desai explained.
The analysis was part of the Parks, Recreation, Library and Culture (PRLC) Facility Needs Assessment, a document that provides guidance to city council, city staff, community partners and the general public with respect to the needs for facilities over a 10-year period.
At the meeting, Desai provided guidance on the components to be included at the future Northwest Community Centre.
“Once we get to a draft PRLC in the weeks ahead we will be rolling that out to the public as well for testing of that document before we come back to council in the fall with the final report,” said Desai, adding an outdoor facility analysis is also currently underway.
The city has identified a community centre as part of the Windfields Community Park at Thornton Road North and the future Britannia Avenue extension, Desai said.
“There’s a planned population of 36,000 at the moment and I think these are pre-Bill 23 estimates,” Desai noted. “What we want to again take into consideration is just the sheer number of people living in the vicinity of where this community centre site is, in addition to the established residential areas that you have to the south and across the street to a smaller extent.”
He added there will be “219,000 people plus in the city as a whole in the next eight years and ultimately the region’s new forecast to 2051 is projected to be almost 300,000 people.
“(This is) a very important destination for the Windfields and Columbus communities as well as north Oshawa and the city as a whole,” Desai stated.
Desai said the planning is based on best practices and guiding principles in facility design and construction.
“We’re hoping that the new facility is one that reflects inclusion, honours and showcases the contributions of the history of the Indigenous communities that surround us and live within us, showcasing environmental leadership, making sure that quality and comfort and that multi-use model are strong considerations,” said Desai. “It’s not easy these days to acquire land for a variety of reasons: land availability, land cost so the site that we are working with, we encourage a principle of making the best possible use of that land through its configuration.”
Recommended components include:
- An aquatics centre with 25 metre pool with eight lanes, leisure pool and therapeutic pool.
- A seniors’ centre branch.
- Oshawa public libraries branch containing space for collections, study and collaboration, makerspace and a reading garden.
- Space and amenities for community level arts and cultural programming, small scale displays and exhibits and public art.
- A triple gym and indoor walk track.
- A FIFA regulation size indoor synthetic surface field.
- Fitness centre that explores industry trends such as functional training, on-demand technologies.
- Community hall with up to 500-person capacity and community kitchen supporting food literacy, social enterprise, multicultural gatherings.
- Multi-purpose rooms for meetings and program delivery.
- Dedicated spaces that reflect Indigenous culture should be determined by engaging an Indigenous designer and involving Indigenous communities.
- Apply an EDI lens to make sure the space is welcoming to all and to ensure barrier free features needs of neuro-diverse individuals and quiet areas.
- Sufficient back of house areas for staff work, storage etc.
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