The future of Adie Knox is up for discussion at Windsor City Council.
A project update on the Reimagined Adie Knox Herman Recreation Complex will be presented to councillors at their regular meeting on Monday, as well as next steps.
The report in front of councillors will recommend they approve the project, reconfigured to accommodate the Phase 1 build out at a total cost of just under $19-million ($18,930,000) and approve the pre-commitment of existing placeholder funding identified within the current five-year funding window.
Ward 2 councillor Fabio Costante says the update at it's core is essentially notifying council that federal Green Initiative Funding hasn't been approved.
He says that potential funding was mostly tied to environmentally friendly enhancements to Adie Knox, not necessarily tied to programming.
"If you recall at the last budget, council did approve $20-million to be allocated towards Adie Knox irrespective of whether the Green Initiative Funding happens," he continued. "That $20-million we're learning from the report that's coming to council is able to achieve a bucket list of items, not all of the items, but a substantial amount."
It'll then be up to council to determine whether they'll move forward with a new conceptual plan, and possibly look to add in the additional items that are not being included at this time.
Costante says a substantial amount of the programming will be achieved in the $20-million investment that's already been allocated.
"There's a few items like an indoor walking track and a music room that don't fall within that funding, so it'll be up to council to determine if they want to move forward with those additional items. The outdoor splash pad, the playground, the basketball nets, the tennis courts, the walking track, multi-use rec rooms and gym, and other amenities like storage and locker rooms are all part of the $20-million investment," he said.
He says while the project is still subject to council approval, because they allocated the funds in the last budget and most of it was front-loaded in the first seven years, it gives council the right to pull that money forward and start investing in Adie Knox almost immediately.
"The dollars are there, and when you look at budgets and capital budgets specifically, the pre-commitment of the $20-million is as good as it gets when it comes to ensuring that the money is there to fulfill the programming and the community centre needs."
Costante says he hears from residents about the project all the time, including from some residents who are still concerned about the reallocation of the pool to the Toldo Lancer Centre at the University of Windsor.
He says the deal that was made between the city and the university was to share the pool, which just opened up is going through its soft open now.
"But they're telling us that by September they're going to have the opening to the general public, and that deal consisted of the programming that existed at Adie Knox remaining the same at the University of Windsor. That the water temperatures would remain more or less the same, and that there would be free on-site parking," Costante stated.
Constante says while some in the community are concerned about the reallocation of the pool, there are also many who are excited about building the new community centre that will serve families and residents not just in the west end but throughout the city.
He's expecting that council will have an interesting debate on the topic this afternoon.
- with files from AM800's Rob Hindi