By Sandra Milton
In October, City staff prepared a Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan as part of its Official Plan. Nothing in the Master Plan reduces the concerns of residents about the lack of access to facilities, their uneven physical condition, or the uncertain future planned for these city facilities. Lowertown as a community has a mix of small recreational and community buildings but no multi-purpose recreation building that meets the needs of this dense and growing community.
Lowertown has two pools that finally re-opened a few weeks ago. While both pools meet 15-minute walkable neighbourhood criteria, it is uncertain whether they meet current pool standards and regulations, building code requirements, health regulations and technology and societal expectations.
The Champagne Bath, officially the Champagne Fitness Centre, is located on King Edward Avenue. Built in 1924, this heritage-building facility currently houses a 22.86 metre (25 yard) four-lane pool, a weight and cardio room, a sauna and a mezzanine for boxing programs. This adult-only facility supports many people from across the city. In addition to residents of Lowertown and Sandy Hill, it is popular with individuals working in the area who pop in for swims in the early morning or later in the day.
The Lowertown Pool, built for municipal use in the 1970s shares a building with the Patro d’Ottawa, an independent not-for-profit social organization on Cobourg Street. This city pool is dedicated to aquatic activities for all ages with five 25-metre lanes typically set up with two average lanes and two wider lanes. It also has a sauna and change rooms, and encourages leisure and family swims that attract people from many areas.
The Routhier Community Centre is located in a former school built in 1933 and renovated for a community centre in the mid-1990s. It is currently closed to the community for use under the direction of Inner City Health as a COVID isolation centre for individuals experiencing homelessness. There is no definite date for re-opening and even when COVID recedes, the facility will no doubt need repairs and updating before it can again be used by residents for community meetings and activities.
Two of our Lowertown parks have fieldhouses. The Jules Morin Park Fieldhouse, which opened in 2014, has a meeting room for rent as well as a skate change room and bathrooms. During the COVID lockdown it was used as a cooling centre and a vaccine clinic. Bingham Park has a fieldhouse built in late 1970s with washrooms and small change rooms accessible with keys.
Here in the historic downtown, residents are not well served by the City. The future of our facilities is at risk as the outlying communities grow and demand new amenities. It is up to our community to identify and voice our needs. The next step with the Official Plan is to identify projects and to estimate the costs. We have a window of about one year to think about our community’s recreational-facility requirements and to get our ideas for improvements on the list. For example, can an older facility like the Champagne Bath be expanded with a new addition alongside? Can the City arrange for more shared space in the building sections now occupied by the Patro d’Ottawa? Could the Bingham Park fieldhouse be updated and used differently? Let us ensure that the city bureaucrats and politicians take note. It is time to write to your Councillor and have your say.
Sandra Milton is a leader of the Lowertown Parks Coalition and Co-chair of the LCA Community Safety
Committee