The wheels are in motion for a new rec centre in Waterdown.
Ward 15 Coun. Ted McMeekin said the city is “on track” to build a rec centre in Waterdown, starting with a feasibility study.
The 2024 Hamilton city budget has allotted $2.2 million to the study, which will look into whether or not it makes financial sense to build a new rec centre in Waterdown.
The budget, which was finalized last Wednesday, averaged out to Hamilton residents paying about an additional $286 per year (based on an assessment value of $385,900) .
The total budget for 2024 is $2.4 billion, almost double last year’s budget of $1.07 billion, with funds being pulled from the city’s reserves to support new housing initiatives.
McMeekin shared on his website that the city has dedicated $20 million dollars or more from next year’s budget to build the centre in 2025.
He said the city-owned land beside the Harry Howell Arena at 27 Hwy 5 W. in Waterdown would be the perfect place for a new rec centre.
“Some wards in Hamilton have two or three community centres and we have none. That’s not right and that needs to change,” McMeekin wrote on his website, adding the centre will serve Waterdown, Flamborough and Carlisle.
Ward 15 will also see a number of road upgrades, including the intersection at Clappison Avenue and Parkside Drive, improvements to a public park in Smokey Hollow, and new traffic lights at both Centre Road and Concession 8 and Centre Road and Carlisle Road.
Park, road upgrades coming to Flamborough
Ward 13 Coun. Alex Wilson said the city is moving forward with the Valley Park Capital Plan, which will see the redevelopment of a park in the Pleasant View Survey at the bottom of Highway 6.
“It’s just at a stage in the maintenance phase,” Wilson said.
Wilson said the ward will also see “substantial road repair work” this year, including improvements to Highway 8, bridge improvements throughout the ward, and a new traffic light at Old Guelph Road and York Road in Dundas.
In this year’s budget, the city has invested $158 million in housing and homelessness, and Wilson said residents in Flamborough who need housing assistance will see benefits from the new programs from the city.
“We do get quite a few rental housing calls from Flamborough area,” Wilson said, adding cases in Flamborough can sometimes be more “severe.”
They said calls from Flamborough are usually “about the adequacy of the home itself,” and the new bylaw enforcement will be able to help with those calls.
