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The facility will be located at RBJ Schlegel Park and expects to welcome more than 380,000 people in its first year of operation, after opening by late 2026
Kitchener, Ontario – The City of Kitchener has unveiled an ambitious plan to build a new multi-purpose indoor recreation facility at RBJ Schlegel Park that will meet the current, future and increasingly diverse needs of Kitchener residents for decades to come. The proposed facility would be the City's first net-zero carbon building, and one of the most environmentally sustainable recreation facilities in Canada.
City Council will consider the proposal at the Community and Infrastructure Services Committee on March 25 and again at a City Council meeting on April 8. If the proposed facility is approved, construction on the new facility would begin in May 2024.
The facility, which will quickly become Kitchener’s premier indoor recreation destination, will include the following amenities, all of which are deliberately planned and designed to support a greater diversity of sports and physical activities in the community:
- A FIFA-sized indoor turf field that can be divided into four individual fields to allow more residents to use the turf at the same time for sports such as soccer, cricket and lacrosse.
- An aquatics centre that includes a community leisure pool and a separate lane pool with a variety of viewing galleries to give residents plenty of locations from which to watch their family and friends participate in lessons, lane swims and other pool activities.
- A second-floor walking track around the perimeter of the turf field that will allow residents to stay active indoors all year around.
- An indoor cricket batting cage to support year-round growth and development in this rapidly growing sport within our community.
- A multipurpose space with top-notch athlete amenities, including a large dividable room for community events, family parties or other rentals.
In addition, the proposed facility would include supporting infrastructure and design work for a future gymnasium addition that would be “shovel-ready” to take advantage of future external funding opportunities or government grants.
“I am beyond excited about this proposed new facility for our community which has the potential to become one of Kitchener’s most significant community gathering spaces, and a wonderful addition to our already popular RBJ Schlegel Park,” said Mayor Berry Vrbanovic. “As a community, this long-awaited project gives us an opportunity to create something really special with this new recreation facility – something that will meet the diverse recreational needs of our residents for decades to come.”
City’s first net-zero carbon building
The proposed facility has been designed as the City’s first net-zero carbon building and one of the most sustainable recreation facilities in all of Canada. In addition to being designed to operate at a very high-level of energy efficiency through a geothermal heating and cooling system, it will also house the City’s largest array of solar panels that will reduce 22 tonnes of carbon annually and save the City close to $100,000 in utility costs every year.
“One of the City’s largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions is the much needed and much-loved community facilities we operate on a daily basis,” said Ward 8 Councillor and Chair of the Community and Infrastructure Services Committee, Margaret Johnston. “If we are going to make meaningful progress towards the City’s GHG emission targets, we are going to have to do things differently with our facilities. And that’s exactly why this new recreation facility is being designed as one of the most sustainable recreation facilities in all of Canada.”
No impact on municipal taxes
Construction of the new recreation facility would be funded through a previously announced grant from the Federal and Provincial governments, and Development Charge revenues – meaning there would be no impact on municipal taxes. The total budget for the building is $144 million. The per square foot construction cost of this facility is on the low range when compared to other similar facilities that have been built in Ontario recently. We also continue to pursue other grant possibilities that may be available for this project.
“It is exciting to know that we have an opportunity to build such an amazing facility that will support a wide diversity of recreational needs into the future, without having any impact on municipal taxes,” said Ward 1 Councillor and Chair of the Finance and Corporate Services Committee, Scott Davey. “This proposal is a win-win-win. We get a great recreational facility, we build and operate it in a sustainable way, and we minimize the financial impact on our taxpayers.”
Back in 2019, Kitchener City Council identified the need for a new indoor pool and turf facilities as the top two indoor recreation priorities for the community.
The new facility has been designed with significant landscaping and other outdoor amenities surrounding the building that will help the building fit in well with the existing outdoor elements of RBJ Schlegel Park, including: two outdoor soccer fields, a multi-purpose turf sportfield, a cricket pitch, four outdoor courts, a splash pad and a variety of other play areas.
Read the full staff report here or visit www.kitchener.ca/KIRC.
For more information, contact
Bethany Rowland
Director, Corporate Communications & Marketing
City of Kitchener
bethany.rowland@kitchener.ca
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