by Myles McDougall, President, Lake Bonavista Community Association
Since its inception, the Centre has been one of the iconic pillars of the Lake Bonavista community. It holds many fond memories for many current and past residents. I also feel some personal pride when walking into the Lake Bonavista Recreation Centre over the last couple months. The facility seems to have a somewhat fresher, even newer feel. This was certainly one of the objectives in the over $800k in capital investments in repairs and upgrades that the LBCA has made over the last two years.
A 2005 Canadian Recreation Facilities Council (CRFC)/Hockey Canada review of the state of Canada’s arenas discovered that an ice arena’s typical life-cycle was between 30-35 years. Our rec centre is now well over 45 years old, about the same age as the Fairview Arena that collapsed this last winter. While this simple comparison ignores importance differences between the actual structures and maintenance history of the two buildings, it does beg the question as to when a new replacement facility will be required.
This issue is not just about structural integrity or safety. Much has changed in terms of arena and recreation centre technology, design parameters and desired function over the last five decades. A visit to any of the newly built recreational facilities in the Calgary area demonstrates that such facilities have improved from both an efficiency and experience perspective. There are many services that might be of interest to our community that cannot be provided for within the current building envelope.
Today, I cannot say how many remaining years of service life our facility has. However, I do believe it is time for our community to begin thinking and planning for the inevitable.
