This week, Matt Bachewich from Active Communities Alberta made a presentation to city council asking for support for a regional sports campus model recreation centre – a memorandum of understanding (MOU). While his model has shown itself successful in Calgary and is creative thinking in its conception, he is in fact asking for $20 million from the City of St. Albert – fully half of its total budget for facilities development for the next 10 years.
Active Communities Alberta has a creative plan to address some of the needs for facility planning for the City of St. Albert, and I applaud this group’s efforts. There are, however, many stakeholder groups within the city that have equally as compelling arguments for facilities planning, and not nearly the voice with council.
In its report “Collaboration for Facility Partnerships – Special Report to St. Albert City Council Project Prioritization Process,” what is most glaringly absent is the voice of its voting citizenry – who overwhelmingly voted Yes to more aquatic facilities as its most important priority in the plebiscite vote on Oct. 16, 2017. And while I understand that this vote is non-binding (a familiar word associated with city council these days), discounting those voices is a bad idea – they elected you, and have an expectation that you will listen to them.
The PowerPoint presentation made to council on Monday lists aquatics as a third priority – after soccer turf and a sixth ice sheet. There is a Capital Charter Proposal (SERV-009) to build an addition to Servus Place – a plan that would total two 25-metre lanes, and four 15-metre “flex” lanes. While this seems to be a solution to the space problem, aquatic user groups have been very clear in their advocacy for eight lanes 25 metres long as being the minimum necessary to alleviate space allocation problems for existing programs, let alone growth of these programs. In addition, appropriate space would allow aquatic user groups to host meets – sometimes larger-scale meets – which would also bring in tourism dollars.
It is time for the citizens of St. Albert and aquatic user groups to advocate strongly for what they need! Contact councillors, write letters, speak at council meetings and fight for the funding to have eight 25-metre lanes added to the proposed Servus Place expansion. It is a good start to what will be an ongoing growth need. Then perhaps the campus sports model could be utilized to accommodate a full pool construction in future expansions, and collaborative action between sports groups.
Michelle Skogstad, St. Albert
Past president, Excel Synchro Club; member, St. Albert Sailfish Summer Swim Club
