City ponders fate of Oakwood centre
The future of Windsor’s busiest community centre was the topic of discussion at an open house Wednesday night.
The meeting at Oakwood Community Centre was prompted by the recent closure of the adjoining public Oakwood public school.
“We are facing a situation where with the centre attached to the school, and we use the school to deliver programs, the school is closed,” said Jan Wilson, the city’s executive director of recreation and culture.
“So we have to identify options for city council about how we want to continue delivering services in this neighbourhood with the school being closed.”
The community centre opened in 1975 and last year served 7,636 registered participants in its programs, who participated in 125,222 hours worth of activity.
Rental space in the centre was used for more than 1,400 hours, and it hosted more than 100 birthday parties.
Lana Baker, who has three young children of her own who use the centre, is happy with the status quo.
“We use it all the time,” said Baker, who made use of a the centre when she was a child.
“I’d like to see it stay in the same facility, maybe build onto it, renovate this building a little bit, but definitely stay in the same location.”
Baker has made use of preschool programs, gymnastics, dance and cooking classes.
Wilson said the verbal input from the well-attended open house will be compiled with written comments to devise a plan for the future.
“One of the ways we have to develop those options is asking the community what’s important to them,” said Wilson.
“In how their services are delivered and where. Is this area the right area, how important is it to have your services delivered under one roof or can we have the services at various locations through partnerships with other centres? What kinds of programs are important to you, do you use it during the day, on weekends, all those kinds of things will help us in determining what the options are. Those options would be costed out from a capital point of view, from an operating point of view and then allow council to decide.”