St. John's recreation plan to cost millions

The City of St. John's will need to spend tens of millions of dollars to replace recreation centres so outdated that the floor of one of them cannot even be sanded.

However, it will likely take the city years to find the money to replace both the Wedgewood Park and H.G.R. Mews community centres, as well as to build a third centre that is part of the St. John's master plan.

"There's no doubt that both facilities are very old and the building systems are worn out. There's no doubt about that," city manager Bob Smart told CBC News.

A presentation to city council last week reported that the gymnasium floor at the Mews centre on Mundy Pond Road did not have enough hardwood left to sand and refinish it.

At a committee meeting on Friday, recreation director Jill Brewer told councillors that the Wedgewood Park centre was effectively being held together by duct tape, and that more "shutdown days" were needed because the building is in such poor shape.

Both of the multipurpose centres house indoor swimming pools.

The city's recreation committee is recommending that Wedgewood Park be closed first to make way for a new, $14.5-million replacement. Replacing the Mews centre would cost an estimated $22 million, while an additional $4.5 million would be needed for what's called a "super-neighbourhood centre" in the Goulds neighbourhood.

Meanwhile, council is trying to develop more recreation facilities for growing neighbourhoods, particularly in the Southlands area.

The council has not decided on a construction plan, but a design for replacing the Wedgewood Park centre would take at least a year.

Smart said the city has some time, but noted that the clock is ticking.

"There's still a few years left, with the proper degree of maintenance and responding to mechanical issues and so on," he said.

"We won't be in a situation where they close down before we get new ones on stream. We're just going to have to be mindful of the maintenance issues in those and keep them going until we replace them with something else."

Metrobus site

One idea that has been floated is the construction of a new recreation centre on the site of the Metrobus facility on Freshwater Road.

Metrobus was scheduled to motor over to new digs on Kelsey Drive in March. That move has been delayed until later in the year.

Smart said a suggestion to put a new rec centre on the old location would be costly — up to $80 million.

"Are we prepared, can we afford, and do we need — is that the highest priority — do we need this multi-purpose wellness centre at a cost of $60, $70, $80 million?" Smart said.