麻豆AV

A community and childcare centre for Shannon Lake residents will have to wait a while.

On June 10, West 麻豆AV staff presented a report to council evaluating the feasibility of building a community centre in Shannon Woods Park. 

The Shannon Lake Neighbourhood Association (SLNA) proposed the facility to council in January.

Staff noted that the parcel of land considered for the centre currently serves multiple community functions. 

The site serves as the main parking lot for Shannon Woods Park鈥檚 busy sports field, often reaching capacity and pushing drivers to nearby overflow areas that also fill up. It鈥檚 also used by Public Works for seasonal storage, and snow melting, and provides access to a pumphouse.

It is also zoned for parks and open space, which does not permit a community hall, but a city-owned facility might qualify as a civic use and avoid rezoning. A privately operated centre would likely need a different zoning.

The site鈥檚 location, in the Agricultural Land Reserve, adds another challenge, requiring an exclusion application. Staff cautioned that could be a lengthy process, and potentially affect other city priorities.

All of council loved the project but noted that the timing wasn鈥檛 right.

鈥淲ith all the other initiatives that we have to wrestle with, priorities that we鈥檝e already identified for staff, it鈥檚 not there at this point,鈥� Councillor Rick de Jong pointed out. 鈥淚 wish we could do an infinite number of projects, but we can鈥檛.鈥�

Coun. Tasha Da Silva thanked the SLNA for bringing the project forward.

鈥淚t鈥檚 now in all of our heads,鈥� she added. 

Mayor Gord Milsom also pointed out that the city has several other projects already in the queue that need to be finished.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got a couple of community centre projects happening right now, as well as some other projects that we鈥檇 like to complete over the next 18 months, including the new fire hall,鈥� he said.

The report also flagged several constraints. The site is approximately 30,000鈥痵q鈥痜t鈥攑otentially too small to accommodate a full-sized community centre, daycare, sufficient parking, landscaping, and play areas.