Water park proposal raises concerns

The head of the group overseeing improvements to the Cindy Klassen Recreation Complex says he has serious concerns about plans to build a privately-owned, state-of-the-art water park near the West End athletic facility.

Frank Liebzeit, president of the Sargent Park Improvement Team, said a proposed $43.6 million water park at Canad Inns Polo Park could have a negative impact on the operations of the city-owned athletic facility.

The city’s executive policy committee recently voted in favour of contributing $7 million towards the project. City council is expected to vote on the proposal on July 16.

“If there turns out to be a significant diversion of revenues, what will this mean to activities and currently existing programs at Cindy Klassen (Recreation Complex)?” asked Frank Liebzeit.

The Cindy Klassen Recreation Complex is located on Sargent Avenue near Wall Street, about one km away from the proposed water park site.

Formerly known as the Sargent Park Recreational Complex, the Cindy Klassen facility features the second-largest pool in Winnipeg.

“The proposed water park should be co-ordinated with the Cindy Klassen site so that they are not competing head-to-head for the same clients for comparable services,” Liebzeit said in an e-mail interview.

“This is especially needed since the city and taxpayers money both run the Cindy Klassen facility and (the city) is contributing water park funding.”

Canad Inns’ proposal would include 100 new hotel rooms in addition to the 66,000-sq. ft. water park.

Canad Inns president Leo Ledohowski previously proposed a joint water park-football stadium in St. Boniface. His company already owns a 40,000 square-foot indoor water park in Grand Forks.

Liebzeit isn’t alone in regards to his concerns about the water park project.

Jenny Gerbasi, city councillor for Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry, has said she wants to make sure admission to the park be reasonable enough to allow low-income people to access the facility.

Like Gerbasi, Liebzeit wonders about the affordability of the water park.

“A lot of users at Cindy Klassen Pool are from lower income families,” he said.

“It has been pointed out that they likely could not afford to go to the water park. The city is requiring some subsidized entries for the water park, but who and how many will be enabled to go appears cloudy at this time.”

While admission rates are not provided in the city’s report made available to the public, Canad Inns has agreed to give the city $700,000 in admission discounts every year for 25 years.

At the Canad Inn’s Grand Forks water park, individual admission passes cost $12.99 plus taxes from Monday to Thursday for visitors ages six and up. Weekend passes are $14.99 plux taxes.

Colin Craig, Manitoban spokesperson for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said it would be inappropriate for the city to spend $7 million on a private project such as the Canad Inns water park.

“It’s not a priority for the city to invest in a water park, and it’s not the proper use of tax dollars,” he said. “The city should not be spending our money on commercial ventures.”

Craig said the city’s choice of a privately-operated model rather than city-operated facility itself is a step in the right direction. However, the project shouldn’t be a priority for the city at this time, he said.

“As City of Winnipeg exercise facilities lose $10 million each year, it's a positive step for the city to abstain from running the new water park,” he said.

“However, a more suitable approach would be to give the $7 million back to Winnipeg taxpayers and let us decide if we want to donate our share towards a water park.”

The city’s $7 million contribution towards the Canad Inns water park would be taken from $9 million originally designated to upgrade the Kildonan Park pool in West Kildonan into an urban oasis.

The Kildonan Park project was scrapped back in January. The city now plans to spend $2 million to renovate the Kildonan Park pool and to build a splash park.

Coun. Harry Lazarenko, whose Mynarski Ward encompasses Kildonan Park, said he favours the plan to provide $7 million in funding to the water park instead of Kildonan Park.

“It’s more central and it will be a state-of-the-art recreational facility for kids and adults” he said.

“Kildonan Park is fine. We’ve always had a great pool there, just some renovations need to be done. Of course I don’t want to see the pool close, but $2 million will go a long ways towards upgrading the pool.”

Lazarenko also added that he trusts the General Council for Winnipeg Community Centres’ advice that the water park is a higher priority than the Kildonan Park upgrades.

“They’re in the loop and we take advice from them,” he said.