| brief history
Plans and dreams for the Wabash Community Centre go back to at least the late 1980s, when the successful fight to create Sorauren Park began.
Long recognized as being underserved by recreational facilities compared to other areas of the city, and to other cities, a new recreational centre was envisioned for the derelict land adjacent to Sorauren Park. The site contains an old linseed oil factory, built in 1915, and a smaller office building about the size of a house.
In 1994 City Council approved a recreational needs study that showed our ward was underserved compared to other parts of the city and required new recreational facilities.
In November 1995, the city’s Neighbourhoods Committee listed a recreation facility for this neighbourhood as the No. 2 priority across the old City of Toronto. This recreation centre was to be built in conjunction with the new Sorauren Park. (The #1 priority was St. Jamestown, which is now built.) More than 1,000 residents were consulted for this report, which was adopted by City Council.Plans for the Wabash Community Recreation Centre moved up the priority list at City Hall until they reached the #2 spot in the late 1990s.
But the mega-city amalgamation pushed the Wabash project down the list. A City report in 2005 placed Wabash #7 in the list of priorities for new or expanded community centres.
In 2003, the city commissioned a feasibility study to prepare scenarios and determine if a new community centre could re-use the existing old factory on the site. The study concluded the building was structurally sound (solid concrete) and could be creatively renovated into a community centre.
To sped up the development of the site and to help raise funds, the community formed the non-profit Wabash Building Society in 2006. The WBS is currently focused on a small-scale renovation of the smaller building on the site to meet some immediate park needs, such as washrooms. (For example, more than 700 children are enrolled in Sorauren Park soccer and baseball programs, serviced only by two porta-potties that are taken away once the season ends.) The smaller building will also serve as a meeting space and headquarters for the development of the community centre.
Overall, the City has already invested approximately $3 million into the Wabash site to purchase the property, complete an environmental clean-up (in 2004), and prepare the 2003 feasibility study on the community centre. Yet the site still sits derelict.
It's time to finish the job.
From Mayor David Miller’s inaugural address to council, Dec. 2, 2003:
"Members of Council, I am honoured to be elected alongside you. I will ask you to cast your minds ahead three years. I will ask you to think about what, at the end of this term, you will want Torontonians to see that we have accomplished as a team. What will we 45 do together to make Toronto a magnificent place to live?…
"My friends, in this term of office, I will urge us as a Council to be thinking about our great city in terms of its neighbourhoods and its communities…
"Neighbourhoods are what make this city great. We must value what is distinct about our neighbourhoods, recognize that which has value beyond its cost.
"I believe that same passion exists in neighbourhoods across this city, and we must encourage it - ignite it - by making it easier for residents to participate in building their city.
"Our challenges are great. The opportunities are greater - let us start today."
|
