I must admit to having a soft spot for the original suggested location for the north end community centre on Clermont Street, immediately behind Evergreen Park School. I think it would have complemented the school very well. Of course, my bias is partly fuelled by the fact that the original planned location would've been about a 7-8 minute walk from my house.
Times change however, and the proposal is now for a public/private partnership between the city and the YMCA. It would appear that the consortium has opted for land on a soon-to-be-extended section of Twin Oaks, interestingly located adjacent to Ecole le Sommet rather than Evergreen Park School.
I think this new location makes sense.
- As a public/private partnership, I imagine the YMCA wanted a site with greater visibility and accessibility.
- This new location would have a larger footprint, giving the site greater flexibility in terms of planning what can be accommodated in the development.
- A community centre here will provided the impetus to finally connect Twin Oaks all the way through to the Ryan Street/Horsman Road roundabout.
In terms of what will be included in the community centre, there were never any plans to have a rink in the facility. There have been vigorous discussions in the past about including a pool in the facility. There will certainly be meeting rooms, a walking track, gymnasium and weight rooms and multifunctional space. Indoor tennis/squash facilities are possible, as well as a climbing wall and BMX track.
With Twin Oaks connected through to the roundabout, this will instantly become the default route for traffic exiting the Evergreen/Kingswood area heading downtown via Berry Mills Road. This will be a much more direct route rather than going down Evergreen to Ryan Street, and then to the roundabout.
Since this will mean that the east end of Twin Oaks will fulfill it's destiny as a neighbourhood connector, It makes one wonder what will be built along this soon-to-be-extended section of road. I doubt that the new section of Twin Oaks will be attractive to single family housing. I expect that medium density apartment buildings will be destined for this area (proximity to the community centre and Ecole le Sommet), possibly with some neighbourhood commercial development down by the roundabout itself........