Wolfville mayor hoping for feasibility study exploring merits of new regional recreation complex in Kings County

Is there an appetite from Kings County’s municipal councils to potentially join forces in support of a new multipurpose recreation complex for the region?

The idea is not off the table, as far as Wolfville’s town council is concerned.

Mayor Wendy Donovan said a feasibility study would be an important first step.

“Wolfville council, as well as other councils in the area, are waiting for an RFP (Request for Proposal) from staff, which presumably when approved would let us study that situation,” Donovan said. “Staff of the participating municipalities would send the RFP out to private consultants who would bid on doing that study.”

The need for more recreational facilities for aquatic programs was highlighted recently when the Acadia pool was closed to the general public.

“We, in the region, have used the Acadia pool as the community pool for a number of activities,” Donovan said. “With the temporary closing of the Acadia pool due to COVID restrictions, some understanding of how we might address that in the long-term is a topic of conversation for all of the municipalities in the area.”

The temporary closure of Acadia’s pool was an eyeopening experience at the local level, Donovan said.

“It showed we were very dependent on that facility. It became clear that as municipalities, we have to look to see what our community really wants to have available to them.”

Bette El-Hawary, executive director for Swim Nova

Scotia, said limited access to the Acadia pool over the last number of months has been detrimental.

“We are thankful that Acadia did reopen to the community recently. But we need to know that the community can have its own facility,” El-Hawary said. “We need to have a larger pool that can accommodate a growing community in that area.”

Donovan, who is a retired recreation planning consultant, said this is the only area of the province that did not do a feasibility study in 2007 or 2008 looking into the need for a regional recreation facility, in part because the area had access to the Acadia pool.

She said the Rath Eastlink Community Centre in Truro, the Lunenburg County Lifestyle Centre in Bridgewater and The Queens Place Emera Centre in Liverpool came out of studies done in that era.

Donovan said the assessment would look at various options for a recreation complex, including a possible cooperative partnership between the university and the community, similar to what can be found in some other parts of the country. Partnerships would facilitate a broader sharing of both administrative and operational costs.

A feasibility study would also delve into the potential for the development of a separate facility that could be funded by a partnership formed by local municipalities.

Donovan said a feasibility assessment could take a year to complete, followed by a site assessment, fundraising campaign and a tendering process to find a builder.

Annapolis Valley Chamber of Commerce executive director Judy Rafuse supports the idea of a feasibility assessment. She said the area needs a regional recreational complex that includes multipurpose community space and meeting rooms.

“We feel a feasibility study would be wise,” Rafuse said. “Construction of a regional complex would benefit those in the community that have been sidelined by lower numbers of facilities because of the pandemic, and add additional meeting space for organizations throughout the Valley.”

Donovan said Wolfville’s council has made the assessment a priority.

“It came from our council as the No. 1 priority because that was the No. 1 thing we heard when we campaigned doorto-door during the election,” she said. “I feel very positive that a study will be done, but it has not been approved. We are a long way from being able to say ‘yes, we are building a new complex.’ We are taking the first step.”