The Leisure Centre has been closed since 2011, while the former Johnny Macdonald Arena was converted into an indoor soccer pitch in 2012 (Photo: Shaun Penner / EverythingGP staff)

By Abby Zieverink

Leisure Centre Demolition

City council opts for full demolition of Leisure Centre, Pitch 2

Aug 24, 2021 | 6:33 AM

Grande Prairie City Council unanimously agreed to proceed with the full demolition of the Leisure Centre and the adjoining indoor soccer pitch, known as Pitch 2, at Monday’s council meeting.

This comes as the former aquatics centre had sat empty for a decade after closing in 2011, while the former Johnny Macdonald Arena has served as an indoor soccer pitch since 2012.

Councillor Dylan Bressey says the main reason behind councils’ decision to approve a full demolition is due to the structural issues with the facility; explaining that completely taking down the building, in council’s opinion, was the best option at this point.

“The problem with the Leisure Centre is it has severe structural issues, and the pool half of the Leisure Centre really just isn’t salvagable.”

The second option council had considered was a selective demolition on the building, which would include the construction of a structural wall to make Pitch 2 a stand-alone facility.

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That option came with a high-level estimate undertaken by the Corporate Facility Management Department in November 2018, suggesting it would cost roughly $842,000 to construct.

As the Leisure Centre was first built in 1974, Bressey suggests the price tag to do a selective demolition of the building was not the best option long term.

“It just doesn’t make sense to spend huge amounts of money to shore up an old building when that money would be better invested to tear down and build new,” he said.

“At the end of the day, we would just be salvaging a pitch that’s already decades old and just doesn’t have life in it.”

Bressey says one thing council is concerned with is how sport and recreation groups in the region will be affected by the decision.

In 2019, around 1100 hours were booked at Pitch 2 by various user groups.

“We know that in the short term, it will definitely be difficult for recreation groups, but eventually, that facility is going to have to be replaced anyway, so we would have that problem whether it’s now or in a few years.”

Bressey says he hopes with the demolition not set until late 2022, a plan will be in place for a new building as soon as demolition is complete.

“Something council did prioritize though was creating a plan as to what’s going to go on that site… To minimize the downtime and replace indoor recreation as soon as place.”

With that, council approved on Monday that instead of looking at what they are going to build project by project, they are planning to find the medium and long-term needs for recreation and culture facilities in Grande Prairie.

“The project kind of got put on the back burner by COVID-19 restrictions… I think what council was saying today with that was like ‘okay we need to get going on this, let’s start planning for that site’,” Bressey said.

“So that when we’re making decisions such as what to build on the Leisure Centre site, we’re making decisions that are long term and strategic in nature, instead of considering them project by project.”

The demolition is hoped to be a joint project with Alberta Education’s demolition of the old Composite High School, which is set to be taken down in late 2022.

RELATED: City Council set to discuss demolition options for Leisure Centre