The City of Kingston has revealed a comprehensive plan to reinvigorate aging recreational structures.
A report heading to council on Tuesday proposes a revitalization of Centre 70, Portsmouth Olympic Harbour and the Memorial Centre.
“Council recently endorsed a sports inventory study that was completed with Tourism Kingston and Kingston Accommodation Partners, which did identify that the aging nature of some of our facilities is itself becoming a bit limiting,” community services commissioner Jennifer Campbell said.
Funding for the plan is anticipated to be included in the 2024 budget, as well as from previously approved council funds.
But this isn’t the first time Portsmouth Olympic Harbour has been the focus of a visioning exercise, it’s happened several times over the past decade. The councillor for Portsmouth district says this needs to be the last.
“And it’s time,” Don Amos said. “Specifically for Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, to have the proper visioning exercise and execute that exercise. It doesn’t need to be shelved anymore.”
The initiative also seeks to evaluate facility conditions, activate surrounding lands, revamp marina operations and strategically invest in ice-surface infrastructure, something that aligns with recent council endorsements.
But all that comes at a price.
“Tens of millions, if not a hundred million dollars,” Amos said. “That’s a guess on my part, but with the economy the way it is, and the scale of renovations that are happening, it’s becoming very expensive to do.”
Those Global News spoke to hope to see changes to the city’s aging recreational spaces.
“If the choice is between leaving things as they are or upgrading, I don’t see a downside to upgrading, as long as it’s kept as a recreational area that people can use freely,” Kingston resident Pam Leblanc said.
The city says it’s combining all three sites into an integrated approach to the visioning exercise to eliminate financial redundancies and streamline community engagement exercises. The plan is scheduled to commence in 2024 and aims for completion by the end of 2025.