Community News

EXPANSION LOOMING FOR SACKVILLE?

CITY WORKING ON IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY FOR RECREATION MASTER PLAN

MARK NEWMAN mnewman@hamiltonnews.com

Hamilton seniors may know in the fall when the long-awaited expansion of the busy Sackville Hill Seniors Recreation Centre on Upper Wentworth might happen.

Expansion of senior centres like Sackville and the Ancaster Seniors Activity Centre is listed as recommendation number 8 in the City's 10-year Recreation Master Plan that was presented to city councillors in 2022.

"Council is waiting for the second phase of the Recreation Master Plan, which is (the) implementation strategy and we're working on that currently," said Dawn Walton, manager of business support in the city's recreation division. "We're hoping to have something by the end of this year to bring forward to council with options and some funding strategies and solutions for their

consideration."

In 2017, the Sackville Board of Finance (now board of directors) asked the city to expand the centre citing high usage and no available space for new programs.

Some $650,000 was raised for the project including $200,000 each from the Ward 6 and 7 area rating reserve and $50,000 from Marilyn Hill, the granddaughter of Hamilton building supply merchant Sackville Hill, after whom

the centre is named.

According to a 2019 Public Works Committee report, the city is looking to build a nearly 11,000square-foot single-storey addition to the nearly 25,000-square-foot Sackville building.

The addition will include new bathrooms and change rooms and upgrades to existing bathrooms, four new generalpurpose rooms, a relocated library, an expanded cafeteria, electrical and mechanical equipment replacement and a new roof.

Cost of the project in 2019 was $16.4 million and Walton agreed the price tag is likely well over $17 million now.

"Funding is our biggest issue," said Walton, who noted potential grants from senior levels of government they were looking into in 2019 did not materialize. "(City) staff are actively looking how grants are coming forward."

Sackville expansion is essentially shovel-ready.

Once the funding is sorted out, Walton said there will be about a year of preconstruction planning followed by two years of building. "We definitely need the place expanded," said Penelope Petrie, chair of the Sackville Hill Seniors Recreation Centre board of directors. "COVID has delayed everything and we've got to get things moving again."

Sackville opened in 1992. It has about 2,500 members and offers a variety of programs.

Central-west Mountain councillor John-Paul Danko said he's on-board with expanding the Mountain facility.

"Every time I have visited Sackville, it has been bursting at the seams with seniors enjoying each other's company and participating in great organized activities," Danko said. "I strongly support the expansion and enhancement of Sackville as a top priority in the City's recreation capital planning — benefitting seniors in Ward 8 and across Hamilton."

East Mountain councillor Tom Jackson was part of the pre-COVID Sackville expansion group.

"I am an extremely strong supporter of the proposed expansion plans for Sackville," Jackson said.

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2023-03-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

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