The new rec centres are part of 85 recommendations in the city’s Recreation Master Plan. Pictured: Hamilton City Hall. Photo Credit: City of Hamilton.
The City of Hamilton is beginning plans for three new community recreation centres which will be located in Glanbrook, Fruitland-Winona, and Waterdown.
The city already held in-person engagement sessions in each area throughout November and December 2024 so that community members could “inform programming and facility feature preferences and to confirm vision statements and guiding principles to guide the design process.”
The city says that the next step, which will occur in January and February 2025, will be an online survey that will allow residents to have a say on key features, design elements, and preliminary programming.
After that, draft conceptual design options for all three facilities will be released online and via public information centres to confirm preferred designs.
The city has not released a timeline for the revealing of the draft design options or any further phases in the development of the projects.
The new rec centres are part of 85 recommendations in the city’s Recreation Master Plan which was released in 2022.
The Master Plan called for the three new facilities to be built before 2031 in order to respond to population growth.
The document lists that the Waterdown rec centre should be located at the Harry Howell Arena near the intersection of Highway 5 and Highway 6 (Clappison’s Corners) and that it should include a pool, gym, and program space.
It should be noted that Clappison’s Corners is also the future site of a master-planned community with a dozen residential towers that could bring more than 10,000 residents to the area, which indicates that a rec centre in the location would likely be well-used.
A new rec centre in Binbrook was recommended for Glanbrook Arena which is located Binbrook Road near Trinity Church Road just west of the community of Binbrook.
The recommendation document says that the facility should include a gym and program space. There is no mention of a pool for that facility.
Finally, the new rec centre for the Fruitland-Winona area was recommended to have a gym and program space. There is no mention of a pool for the facility.
Additionally, the recommendations do not mention a particular location for the facility.
The document says that a new rec centre would be meant to replace the Winona Community Centre on Winona Road near Highway 8, which was the former Winona Public School.
The Winona Community Centre opened in 2016 and includes an Ontario Early Years Centre, a renovated gymnasium and a dance and fitness studio.
The city spent about $400,000 renovating the building after they purchased it in 2014.
While the site of a new recreation centre in the Fruitland-Winona area remains unclear for now, local Councillor Jeff Beattie (Ward 10 – Stoney Creek-Fruitland-Winona) commented on Facebook that his location preference for a new centre would be at the existing Winona Community Centre site.
The city’s Recreation Master Plan also calls for two facilities in the medium-term to be completed by 2041.
The Master Plan calls for a recreation centre on the South Mountain featuring a pool, gym, and program space but notes that a site would be required.
The Master Plan also recommends the eventual repurposing of Saltfleet Arena in Stoney Creek off of Fruitland Road into a recreation centre with a pool, gym, and program space.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
