Lakeshore shelves concept plan for $85-million expansion of Atlas Tube park

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Lakeshore has put a concept plan for an $85-million expansion of the Atlas Tube Recreation Centre on hold after councillors decided Tuesday it was too expensive and other areas of the municipality might lose out on recreation funds. 

Construction, if approved, would have been phased in over 15 to 20 years. 

No money was on the table on Tuesday. Rather, councillors were voting on a concept plan that could be used to attract government grants and set the stage for an $8-million detailed design of the facilities to be approved in steps. Decisions on what elements to proceed with would have been decided in each year’s budget. 

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The $85-million total cost was identified in 2023 dollars. 

A report by administration called the plan a “guide to the potential development of the ATRC regional park.” 

Staff offered a recommendation to approve the concept plan, but in a 5-3 vote councillors chose instead simply to receive the report and take no action. 

The project was to be extensive. Plans included various sized soccer fields to address growing registration in the municipality, baseball diamonds with lights to allow for adults to play at night, a skate park and BMX pump track, 24 pickleball courts and five tennis courts with shade structures and seating, concessions, locker rooms, large shaded family pavilions, washrooms, more parking, and trails, trees and other natural amenities. 

The land involved is owned by the municipality. 

“This is a space that Lakeshore could be proud of, and we could look at hosting many, many large-scale events as a regional park,” said Frank Jeney, corporate leader community health and safety services, in explaining the plan to councillors before their discussion. 

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“When you add amenities at a regional place like this, then you could start looking at adding the amenities that we don’t currently have in Lakeshore,” he said. “So you could look at cricket pitches. You could look at other sports that are really wanted and really desired in Lakeshore, where we could repurpose other parks that gets displaced to newer, fancier sports.”

But Coun. Ian Ruston, calling the financial demands “unstomachable,” said he couldn’t support the plan because the town has too many other projects that need funding.

“We don’t even have hotels to house people because we can’t flush toilets. We have a roads master plan coming. We got our wastewater master plan, our fire master plan,” Ruston said. 

And approval of a concept plan can get construed as a project that has been approved, he said. 

He also worried about smaller facilities in other areas of the municipality. “I’m afraid that we will lose some of our little hometown parks that we have.  

Coun. Larissa Vogler also did not support approval of the concept plan.  

“For me in the rural wards, in Ward Six, I remember what it was like when we decided to build Atlas Tube,” Vogler said. “And I cannot tell you how angry people still are about the financial decisions around that complex and something like this — the amount of division it creates between the small outlying rural areas and what we perceive to be the West End,” she said. 

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The Atlas Tube Centre sits roughly between Emeryville and Belle River. 

“There won’t be enough user fees to fund it. It’s going to come down to the taxpayers. And if you did a referendum on this issue, I am confident that residents would not support this, the majority of residents, and it would become a bit of a nightmare.” 

Deputy Mayor Kirk Walstedt said council would face pressure at budget time to fund elements of the project. 

“I just don’t like the idea of this hanging over a council’s head that it would come every budget session,” he said. 

“And I do see it taking away from the from the local parks. … I see some of those outlying areas maybe not getting what they should be getting.” 

Coun. Ryan McNamara said the expanded facilities are what draw people to the community. 

“A lot of our future debt financing is based upon our growth, and if we don’t put the amenities in place that the people want, they won’t come and we will default,” he said. 

Coun. Kelsey Santarossa said other parks won’t be able to fulfil the demand for sports in Lakeshore. 

“I don’t think receiving the report just for information is the right ultimate strategy, because it sends the signal that we’re not willing to invest where the investments (are) needed, even if it’s a little bit at a time,” she said. 

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Mayor Tracey Bailey made a pitch for the plan’s financial demands, explaining there are spending controls in place because each part of the plan would have to be approved by council during the budget process. 

“Those decision makers of the day will make the decision on whether or not it is something that is financially feasible,” she said. “I’m comfortable knowing the controls are in place that council will be making the decisions.” 

If council had voted on this last year, the town would have been able to access $43 million in grants, she said. 

Bailey, Santarossa and McNamara voted against just receiving the plan. 

Walstedt, Kerr, Ruston, Vogler and Coun. Michael Hoffman, voted to receive it.

 bamacleod@postmedia.com

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