Whitby eyes additional amenities for future Sports Complex

Thestar.com
June 9, 2021
Moya Dillion

The Town of Whitby is taking public feedback into account with a move to add more amenities to the future Whitby Sports Complex.

Extensive public consultation on the project resulted in clear feedback from the public on the desire for more outdoor amenities and enhanced aquatic amenities at the proposed $70 million facility, which will be located on the west side of Baldwin Street South, south of the intersection with Highway 407.

“We had an unprecedented number of responses from the community,” said Phil Fenech, principal architect for consultant Perkins & Will, on the public consultation, which included a community survey and four community engagement sessions. “The common theme at all the meetings was that recreation is a very highly valued commodity.”

In total 32 per cent of participants were looking for outdoor amenities such as sports fields, courts, outdoor ice space, and bike, skate and pump park facilities. In addition 21 per cent requested an indoor gymnasium space for sports such as pickle ball, volleyball and basketball and 12 per cent were looking for enhanced aquatic facilities including a larger pool size, a second-floor viewing space and adequate change room facilities.

“The desire is for a one-stop shop that integrates park amenities close to the sports complex,” said Fenech, noting changing demographics are also driving the desire for different sports amenities such as pickleball and cricket. “We understand the recommendation and believe the exploration of more courts, sports fields and skating options should be explored.”

Bill Rourke, president of Whitby Minor Baseball, said new outdoor amenities such as baseball diamonds would be a welcome addition to the town’s recreation facilities.

“We could always use more,” Rourke said, noting the organization had experienced growth as high as 20 per cent year over year prior to COVID-19, and expect growth to continue once things reopen.

He said they would especially like to see tournament-style facilities, which would consist of multiple diamonds designed for players at the Bantam level or older, as well as accompanying amenities such as restrooms and a snack bar.

“We would love to see something in the north since there are long-term plans for development in the west corridor, and we’d like to see some newer-style, upgraded diamonds because some of the diamonds are getting quite old and worn,” Rourke continued. “We do anticipate significant growth and desire for kids to play baseball. We alter our program to fit what we have, so if we had more diamonds available then we could expand our programming.”

At a meeting on May 31 council voted unanimously to have staff examine the potential for additional amenities based on the feedback received, with an updated design concept, and accompanying budget modifications, to be brought back to council at a future meeting.

The town will also be embarking on a Parks Master Plan that will better identify the changing recreation needs as they face explosive growth and changing demographics in the years to come.

“This fall we will be undertaking a parks and recreation master plan, which will really help us to identify those new sports and emerging recreation trends to make sure any new amenities planned for that space will meet the demands of the community,” said John Romano, commissioner of community services for the Town of Whitby, noting the facility may not necessarily include everything the public requested.

“This feedback is a depiction of what’s possible and these are the amenities we heard about. We still need to take this direction away and determine what works and doesn’t.”

Once a plan is approved, construction on the new complex could begin as early as 2023.