Strong feelings surface over proposed replacement for Mews Centre

The City of St. John's asked what peoplethink about its plans to replace the aging H.G.R. Mews Community Centre, and some of the responses are emotional.

Some residents of the Mundy Pond neighbourhood revealed strong feelings about the current Mews Centre during Tueday'spublic meeting aboutthe two sites the city is considering for the new facility.

"I came here three years ago and I walked with a cane and now I don't," said Mundy Pond area resident Barb Osmond tearing up.

"I fills up, see? Because it's after doing so much for me."

But even Osmond and other area residents agreethe old building they love has to go.

"It definitely is too small and it needs upgrading," said area resident Ann Anderson.

Where to build?

The question for the city is where the new $24-million dollar facility should be built.

"A lot of people want it to stay in this area, and there aren'ta lot of places in this area whereyou can put a building of this size," said St. John's City Councillor Jamie Korab.

The city's website says the new building will be about37,000 square feet in size, roughly the same footprint as the existing centre.

Initially, the city looked at a site across the street from the centre, where a gravel parking lot sits now. However, there were concerns about losing parking and some green space with that option.

Now the city's looking at a second site at the opposite end of Mundy Pond.

"It's currently a recreation hub with the softball field, the dog park, with the skate park. So, it's a great area that people are certainly warm to," said Korab, the council's lead for community services and events.

But residents do have some issues with that plan as well,including questions about the possible loss of the Charlie BhnischSoccer Field.

"We have a lot of immigrants in this area and soccer is a game that they do play and it's a way of integrating into the community. So I understand from the people here that they are addressing that with the soccer association. So I hope that works," Anderson said.

Children's safety

Another city resident said the newly proposed site is unsafe because it will tempt nearby school children to cross the pond when it's dangerous to do so.

In addition to destroying the existing soccer pitch, the proposed location would place the new centre directly across the pond from St. Teresa's School, an elementary school,wrote Ken Noseworthy in an emailto CBC News. A few dozen St. Teresa's students attend an after-school program run by the Boys and Girls Club at the existing Mews Centre location.

"Small children will be tempted to cross the pond at the first sign that it appears solid," Noseworthy wrote.

After public meetings about the proposed community centre replacement have been completed, city staff will make a recommendation for council to vote on. If councildoes greenlight the project, it's expected the new centre will be builtby 2022.

Read more articles from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador