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Again, it seems that our community of Onaping Falls is being neglected by the City of Greater Sudbury. It also feels as though our community is being targeted directly.
Another year, another opportunity to propose the closure of the I.J. Coady Memorial Arena in Levack. The last municipally owned building in town. The same scenarios and justifications presented every time. Only, the most important one is always left out, the residents who live here, work here and play here.
City staff always compare our facilities to the ones in Greater Sudbury. There is just one problem with those comparisons: our residents live 60 minutes away from Greater Sudbury and 30 minutes away from the next nearest town (Chelmsford). Of course, our facilities have lower usage rates. Of course, our facilities have higher repair costs needed, they have been neglected by the city for almost 25 years since amalgamation.
The completed Aquatic Service and Facility Review recommends to “Maintain the Onaping Pool with minimal investment for the short-term but do no revitalize or rebuild the facility once it reaches the end of its functional life.”
For the past 24 years, that is what our pool has been operating on anyway. Now, we can expect the city to completely neglect the facility altogether until they deem it at “the end of its functional life.”
For a better understanding of our viewpoint in Onaping Falls when it comes to our facilities you should review the section “Swims per Capita” on page 25 and page 26 of the “Aquatic Service and Facility Review Phase 2: Assessments and Strategy Development” report. This section points out exactly why our Onaping Pool is important.
Even though we have a smaller market to draw from, have a limited range and capacity of programming to offer and operate under more limited hours due to the city cutting back, we have the highest “swim per capita” of all the city’s pools.
Our Onaping Community Centre that is attached to the Onaping Pool has also been neglected since amalgamation.
This building is the community hub for Levack and Onaping, with our Falls Food Bank that serves all of Onaping Falls, Levack-Onaping Public Library, Teen Centre, Art Club, Rio Encore Theatre, Onaping Falls CAN, open gym nights, etc.
We did have the Adult Learning Centre until this year when the organization deemed the Community Centre too badly maintained with washroom facilities and overall upkeep to continue operations there. We, the Onaping Falls Recreation Committee, have tried to secure outside funding from various sources to repair and improve this building with no success. There are numerous issues with the state of the roof, windows, doors, plumbing and drainage, etc. Also, the gym access is by stairs only which will not be feasible in the near future to be in compliance with AODA regulations. At the Mayor’s Open House on March 6, 2023, it was promised that the roof would be looked after and the windows replaced. Nothing has come from that promise as of yet.
Also, there is the radon radiation issue that has been going on since July 2023. After being told three times that a contractor had been obtained and plans were moving ahead for the radon remediation, it seems that work may finally commence.
These facilities have been neglected for so long by the city that it is hard for city council to rationalize the spending needed to bring them back to fair condition. What happens now when it will cost millions to repair and update these facilities in the future? The city staff will recommend closing them down to save money and will use the low usage or revenue as justification for it. Our population is increasing in Onaping Falls due to lower cost of living and an increase in mining hires. Our facilities are being used more often and need to be fully maintained.
Onaping Falls deserves better. You cannot compare apples to oranges.
We are requesting that you reject the business case presented by city staff to reduce the number of ice pads provided for the 2025 budget, continue to maintain the Onaping Pool and repair and update, where necessary, the Onaping Community Centre.
Carrie Morin
Chair
Onaping Falls Recreation Committee.