New $8M Williamsburg Community Centre will be nearly six times larger than current space

A new $8-million community centre in southwest Kitchener will be nearly six times the size of a current leased space, with a double gym, program rooms and office space.

The new Williamsburg Community Centre will be located in the new Rosenberg subdivision, in the Bleams Road and Fischer-Hallman Road area.

It’s a joint project with the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, where the community centre will be built alongside a new elementary school.

City staff say the shared build will save money, even as the forecast budget for the community centre has grown from $6 million to $8.1 million.

“Although it came in more expensive than expected, we’re still saving millions of dollars in construction costs … because we’re pursuing this partnership,” said Mark Hildebrand, the city’s director of neighbourhood programs and services.

A move from the community centre's current home, a 3,000-squarefoot leased space at the Williamsburg Town Centre commercial and retail complex, “is a substantial service improvement” in the fastgrowing neighbourhood, he said.

The new centre is planned to be just over 17,000 square feet, including a double gymnasium and four program spaces.

“Also, we’re set to leverage an additional double gymnasium that the school board’s building themselves, when the school’s not using the facility,” Hildebrand said.

All of the costs will be funded by development charges, collected by the city from developers to support growth-related infrastructure.

Final approval for the budget is expected at council on Monday; councillors unanimously supported the project at a recent committee meeting.

“I’m really excited about this,” said Coun. Ayo Owodunni, who thanked his Ward 5 council predecessor, Kelly Galloway-Sealock, for her role in supporting the plan initially.

“This is a very passionate community, they are very united, together, and just providing these additional amenities would be phenomenal,” Owodunni said.

Hildebrand said the Williamsburg Community Association asked if the Williamsburg name could transfer from the leased space to the new facility, which will also be the association's new home.

The association has been very active and has developed a very strong brand in the area, “so it only makes sense to have that connection piece.”

A construction timeline hasn’t been set.

A new Kitchener Public Library branch is also planned in the vicinity of the new school and community centre.

No timeline has been set for the new Kitchener community centre, a joint project with the Waterloo Catholic District School Board