Proposed changes to Adie Knox hotly contested
A recommendation presented to Windsor city council Monday night to remove the Adie Knox Herman Recreation Complex swimming pool and ice rink stirred vocal opposition from residents caught off-guard by the contentious proposal’s return.
“This is ludicrous,” said Caroline Taylor, a Ward 2 resident who swims at Adie Knox weekly. “This arena was built to last. It has good bones. It’s rock solid. It’s always been a west-end mainstay.
“Taking away amenities that are close by would be detrimental to the community.”
The purpose of the 20-year recreation master plan, requested in 2017, is to guide future decision making for recreation facilities and policies, leisure programming and operations, and capital improvements in the city.
Among 47 recommendations is a “re-imagining” of the Wyandotte Street West Adie Knox Herman Recreation Complex as a community hub without a pool or ice pad. It’s a project originally proposed by city hall as part of the plan to build the downtown Windsor International Aquatic and Training Centre. The aquatic centre opened in 2013, but the plan to close the Adie Knox pool was axed by council after public outcry.
“Numerous people have contacted me just today about their displeasure with the proposed closure,” said Rene Jacques, a Ward 6 resident who championed a petition to save the Adie Knox pool six years ago. “It continues to serve west-end seniors every day.”
Council did not make a decision on the recreation master plan before press time.
The master plan recommends the city operate Adie Knox as a “dedicated year-round dry-floor venue” for lacrosse, ball hockey and other activities. It also recommends the construction of a gymnasium, fitness centre “and other space conducive for uses by community partners.”
Indoor aquatic services no longer available at Adie Knox would be transferred to the Gino and Liz Marcus Community Complex in Ford City (about five kilometres east) and the downtown aquatic centre. The aquatic centre should address current parking “constraints” and “maintain a degree of consistency” in pricing for programs transferred there from Adie Knox, the plan states.
During Monday’s meeting, Ward 2 Coun. Fabio Costante grilled Todd Brown of Monteith Brown Planning Consultants, the recreation master plan’s authors, over the recommendation to cut the pool and ice from Adie Knox. Costante, who represents the west end, described himself as “passionate” and “a little bit pissed off.”
He pointed out the correlation between poverty and inactivity noted in the report, and that the only cuts put forth in the document take place in the city’s west end, where a significant proportion of Windsor’s low-income residents live.
“We were looking at it in terms of how can we give something greater — something that takes the dollars that are being spent unnecessarily and better reallocates it to residents,” Brown responded.
Operating Adie Knox costs the city more than $700,000 per year. According to city administrators, no aquatic facility in Windsor breaks even.
Research conducted while putting the recreation plan together found people are looking for more casual drop-in opportunities and affordable recreation activities, he said. Changes to Adie Knox “created an opportunity to address needs in the community other than ice,” like pickle ball and floor hockey.
“The concept of re-imagining was really meant to be a more of an exciting prospect — making it more affordable and accessible to all,” Brown said.
Josh Pinese, who sits on the executive of the Windsor Minor Hockey Association, opposed changes to Adie Knox. Minor hockey uses the Adie Knox rink as the anchor for its programs.
“Adie Knox, old and neglected as it may be, is being utilized more than any other rink in the city,” aside from WFCU Centre and Capri Pizza complex, he said. The WMHA spends $206,000 annually to use the ice there, he said, and named more than half a dozen other organizations that also pay for ice time.
“I would love someone to show me where else we could operate the same ice usage we use now,” Pinese said.
Brown referred to the report’s conclusion that Windsor has an excess of swimming pools and ice rinks. If there weren’t facilities with availability to spare, he said, the plan would not suggest services at Adie Knox be altered.
The plan also includes city-wide additions of six tennis courts, five outdoor basketball courts, three skateboard parks, a full-sized cricket pitch, an artificial turf field with multiple amenities, playing fields (for soccer, lacrosse, football, rugby and other sports), and two new adult-sized baseball diamonds.
To accommodate new baseball diamond improvements, two undersized ball diamonds will be altered.
The long-term plan calls for the closure of the outdoor pools at Central Park and Mic Mac Park once they reach their end of life in the more distant future. The plan recommends replacing the Central Park pool with a splash pad after it closes.
The idea for an indoor sports facility first floated by Mayor Drew Dilkens in 2017 was supported during the council meeting by delegate Joe Barile, president of the Essex County Soccer Association.
The proposed $58.7-million, 100,000-square-foot project would include a FIFA regulation soccer field, seating for 1,500 spectators, a walking track, and more — but the city would lose $525,000 per year operating it, according to the $80,000 Windsor Indoor Sports Facility Feasibility Study.
“Soccer is Canada’s true national sport,” Barile said, acknowledging the official recognition of hockey and lacrosse in the country.
Dilkens told the Star on Thursday the pricey project needed to go on the back burner in the wake of multi-billion dollar sewer improvements for flood mitigation in the coming years.
Barile wanted to see the facility as a high priority, instead of the “medium priority” level designation outlined in the report with a 2027 implementation date.
“We simply cannot attract national events without having an indoor turf field,” he said. “We are prepared as a community partner to financially commit to this as long as it happens sooner rather than later.”