Activities

The activities ranked most important in the online surveys and open house were

• swimming lessons
• lane swimming for personal fitness
• using a water play area (ie. lazy river)
• fitness programs (ie. aquasize)
• using a hot tub

Indoor Gym Activities

The activities ranked most important in the online surveys and open house were

• soccer/futsal
• climbing on an indoor climbing wall
• gymnastics
• basketball
• badminton
• indoor track

Based on the online surveys and open house, respondents would most likely participate in climbing on an indoor climbing wall, soccer/futsal, basketball, badminton, volleyball, gymnastics, indoor skateboarding, martial arts and table tennis.

Climbing was added into the program due to its popularity.

Indoor Arena Activities

The activities ranked most important in the online surveys and open house were

• general indoor skating
• hockey
• none of these activities
• figure skating
• ball/floor hockey
• ringette

Based on the online surveys and open house, respondents would most likely participate in skating, hockey, ball/floor hockey, none of these activities, figure skating, ringette, lacross, inline hockey and speed skating.

Fitness & Weight Training Activities

The activities ranked most important in the online surveys and open house were

• using cardio fitness machines
• indoor running, walking, jogging
• free weight training
• instructor led fitness classes
• using weight lifting machines
• stretching/warm up

Based on the online surveys and open house, respondents would most likely participate in using cardio fitness machines, indoor running, walking, jogging, free weight training, instructor led fitness classes, using weight lifting machines, stretching/warm up, functional training, one-on-one personal training, fitness testing/appraisal and none of these activities.

A flexible gymnasium space was added to better accommodate these fitness activities.

Facility Support Activities

The activities ranked most important in the online surveys and open house were

• eating at a cafe/juice bar
• using a common area for gathering/waiting/eating
• accessing sports medicine services
• using pro shop services
• community league space
• informal viewing

Based on the online surveys and open house, respondents would most likely participate in eating at a cafe/juice bar, using a common area for gathering/waiting/eating, accessing sports medicine services, using pro shop services, informal viewing, making purchases at retail stores and none of these activities.

Dedicated spectator seating was removed from the gymnasium and pool areas in order to accommodate more program space.

Multi-Purpose Activities

The activities ranked most important in the online surveys and open house were

• using a children’s play area
• drop-in activities for children
• drop-in activities for youth
• performing arts programs
• visual arts programs
• culinary arts programs
• none of these

Based on the online surveys and open house, respondents would most likely participate in drop-in activities for children, using a children’s play area, drop-in programs for youth, visual arts programs, culinary arts programs, parties, special events, multicultural events, and celebrations, performing arts programs, on-site child care, and none of these activities.

Edmonton Skateboard Association

As we went through the Sharing Ideas consultation process, the Edmonton Skateboard Association proposed a partnership with us to develop an indoor skateboard/bmx park. The inclusion of the skateboard park is being considered pending a review of a business case.

Outdoor Passive Rec Activities

The activities ranked most important in the online surveys and open house were

• using open green space
• shopping at outdoor markets
• picnicking
• using outdoor spaces for events
• using open green space
• resting/relaxing

Based on the online surveys and open house, respondents would most likely participate in picnicking, using open green space, using outdoor spaces for events, resting/relaxing, shopping at outdoor markets, nature appreciation, reading, photography, suntanning, and painting/drawing.

Open green space was added to the program to accommodate flexibility of outdoor activities.

Outdoor Active Rec Activities

The activities ranked most important in the online surveys and open house were

• playing in a water spray park
• tennis
• fitness activities on outdoor trails
• swimming in an outdoor pool
• playing on an outdoor playground
• soccer
• skateboarding in outdoor skate park

Based on the online surveys and open house, respondents would most likely participate in fitness activities on outdoor trails, playing in a water spray park, swimming in an outdoor pool, playing on an outdoor playground, soccer, tobogganing/sledding, outdoor ice skating, tennis, basketball, and skating in an outdoor skate park.

A playground will not be included in the program. Even though it’s popularity appeared within the top five responses, there are a number of playgrounds already surrounding this site.

Water play was added to the program to reflect the needs from the community due to a lack of current water play features in the surrounding area.

Edmonton Catholic Schools

As we went through the Sharing Ideas consultation process, a partnership was identified Edmonton Catholic Schools. The Lewis Farms Area structure Plan identified a stand-alone high school to be included on the district park site. In discussions with the school board, they identified a need for a high school academic centre to provide services to students in the west end.

Library Activities

The activities ranked most important in the online surveys and open house were

• borrowing library items
• using a children’s reading/play area
• homework/studying
• makerspace
• none of these
• after school programs
• preschool programs

Based on the online surveys and open house, respondents would most likely participate in borrowing library items, using a children’s reading/play area, reading, homework/studying, after school programs, preschool programs, technology skills training, using a community room, makerspace, and none of these activities.

Major Activity Trends

Overall, there were some popular themes mentioned throughout the open house and online surveys. They are summarized below:

• Requests for dryland training space.
• A range of programs and flexible spaces that cater to multiple ages.
• Continuous improvements based on learnings from other recreation centres
• Indoor and outdoor activities are equally important.
• Healthy, fresh, organic food options.
• Overwhelming support for uses identified in the functional program (gym, arena, pool, etc.).
• Recommendations for an indoor skate/bmx/scooter park, indoor ultimate and climbing walls.

Minor variations in the results from the online surveys and open house.

Ranking

Respondents were asked to prioritize the main activity groups by identifying their top choices. This was used to measure the importance of each activity group which is displayed in the image.

Here are some highlights:

• The top seven activity groups are considered important by more than 50% of the online survey respondents.
• Both active and passive activities are considered important by the majority of the respondents in the online surveys.
• Passive Recreation Activities (5%) and Facility Support Activities (0%) were rated the lowest - few to none of these activities were chosen as the top activities.
• Active Recreation Activities are considered more important than Passive Recreation Activities, by respondents from the online surveys and open house.

Active Recreation Activities and Indoor Pool Activities were consistently ranked high by online participants. Open House results vary in that Active Recreation Activities are ranked much lower.

Vision Mural

If you attended our open house and you’re wondering how our vision mural turned out, check out the Vision Mural page to see the diverse and colourful result, courtesy of Sam Hester, graphic recorder at the 23rd Story.

Your Vision

At the open house and in the online surveys we asked what your vision was for the Lewis Farms District Park. We heard that you envision a park that is welcoming, environmentally sustainable with natural features such as trees and landscaped areas. You would like a clean, safe space that supports the community through play and active recreation. The park should be accessible and well connected to the surrounding community through multi-modal transportation.

Build It Soon

The facility should be built soon:

• A facility is needed in the west end
• other surrounding facilities are at capacity

this is an exciting project and vital for the community, families and youth

Accessible

The facility and park should be accessible:

• conveniently located for access
• accessible by multi-modal transportation, specifically alternative transportation (ie. bike, walking, transit)
• outfitted with appropriate transportation infrastructure (ie. bike locks and parking)
• accessible for people with disabilities, specifically from the parking lot to the facility
• easy to navigate with the inclusion of directional signage for good wayfinding
• provide adequate parking facilities that are will thought out, consider traffic flow and incorporate low-impact design

Affordable

The facility and park should be affordable:

Memberships, programs and events should be affordable or low-cost

Safe, Clean, and Comfortable

The facility and park should be safe, clean and comfortable:

• security cameras and security for storage/locker areas
• variety of lockers provided - wallet/purse lockers, large lockers, lockers with shoe shelves
• change rooms that are clean, semi-private and comfortable, particularly for families

adequate numbers of washrooms that can be used by all sectors of the population, particularly children and family use

Well Planned

The facility and park should be well planned:

• supports people with a range of abilities through equipment and programs
• design should incorporate elements of the City’s diverse culture and local community, particularly First Nations culture and art
• fiscally responsible (capital and operating)
• design should be light, bright, innovative and reflect the area
• a place for all seasons and aligns with the City’s WinterCity Strategy
• Aligns with city plans, including Transit-Oriented Development Principles

The building should be well-integrated into the park

User Committees

User Committee Themes

• Recommendations to improve functionality of arena and gymnasium spaces
• Desire to identify the intent of the use of facility prior to design so meaningful feedback can be provided.
• Balance is desired between competitive and recreational use of indoor and outdoor spaces.

Advisory Committees

Advisory / Stakeholder Themes

• Consideration and application of guidelines from Accessibility, WinterCity, and Age Friendly to improve usage of the facility and park for all ages and abilities

Continued engagement of these groups throughout the remaining stages of design and construction of the facility and park

Internal Feedback

Internal Staff Themes

• Majority of feedback is centered around design recommendations to improve the functionality and user experiences in all areas of the facility and park.
• A large focus is placed on design tweaks to continue improving the safety and security of City recreation centres.
• Finding ways to reduce operating costs is critical.
• Early involvement in the review of the program/plans and feedback by staff and the public is key.
• Identification of intended programming prior to design decisions will ensure facilities are used for what they are planned for.

Things People Liked

Things people liked at the open house:

• Our staff - Participants felt our staff was knowledgeable and well informed to answer their questions
• Appreciate the opportunity for City to encourage feedback and input
• The food - Great snacks, and popcorn
• Interactive elements - Voting with stickers and our graphic recorder
• The format allowed people to easily participate, to share ideas and opinion with City staff and their neighbours

Learning about the project and the possibilities of what it might be

Things to Improve

Things we could do better for Exploring Options:

• Provide a better map of the location of the facility and community elements
• ensure more information is provided on a few elements such as the Academic Centre and the timing and costs of implementation
• Wanted opportunities to take home information (brochure) and provide feedback later from the open house
• More stable easels at the open house
• More visuals - Past facilities, large schematics, design concept examples
• Mechanisms to keep informed about ongoing activities
• More advertising and advance notice
• More staff - At times when staff weren’t available, people’s questions went unanswered at the open house
• Representation from Edmonton Catholic Schools at the open house

The age categories of 18-65 were well represented in our online surverys and open house; however, we want to do better to engage seniors (65+) and youth and children under 18 in our consultation

Recommended: School

Edmonton Catholic School District is interested in building an Academic Centre and daycare in Lewis Farms, similar to Cardinal Collins High School Academic Centre at the Clareview Community Recreation Centre and Clareview Library. The Academic Centre would include the following spaces:

• Standard and outreach classrooms, science lab, and makerspace to support programs including:
  • English Language Learners Program for 4th and 5th year high school students.
  • Fresh Start High School providing a flexible and self-directed learning environment.
  • Summer School for students requiring further instruction or those wishing to improve their grades.
  • Diploma Preparation Classes designed to prepare students for Alberta Education Diploma Examinations.
  • Our Lady of Grace Program for pregnant and parenting teens.
• Child Care Space providing childcare from birth to six years of age.
• Chapel for small groups and quiet contemplation.

Administration and kitchen spaces.

Recommended: Library

We are partnering with the Edmonton Public Library to include a medium-sized (1,672 m²) Edmonton Public Library branch similar to the Clareview Branch intended to serve the Lewis Farms Area Structure Plan. The Lewis Farms Branch will be a welcoming space that encourages community gathering, learning and discovery and will include the following:

• Service desk, express check-out stations, holds pick-up, and exterior 24-hour book return.
• Collections including materials and resources to meet the needs of the community. The collection size for the Lewis Farms branch will be approximately 53,000 items.
• Public computers to accommodate opportunities for individual and co-learning and training.
• Community room for programming, hosting meetings, gatherings, and community events.
• Spaces for quiet study and reading.
• Children’s area to facilitate play, reading and interacting.
• Informal, appealing areas for interaction in pairs and groups.

Makerspace and gaming services and activities to build community

Recommended: Rec Centre

• Aquatic facility providing a second competitive training venue in Edmonton that will support synchronized swimming, water polo and diving in a 25x30m deep tank with two, 1m and 3m springboards, and 3m and 5m dive platforms, and spectator seating for local and regional competitions. A leisure pool with water play features, a tot pool, a 25m ten lane pool, whirlpool and steam room.
• Fitness centre that includes large cardio and weight training area, two fitness studios and a non-competitive running / walking track.
• Three gymnasiums that include large playing surfaces and assembly areas that can be divided into smaller functional areas.
• Multi-purpose spaces that include an indoor child development space, child minding space, bouldering wall, and three multi-purpose rooms that can be expanded into larger rooms by removing dividers.
• Twin NHL indoor ice rinks, outdoor leisure ice and a skate rental kiosk.

Support and other services that includes a lobby area, washrooms, dressing rooms, food retail units, commercial retail unit, administration and storage space.

Recommended: Park

• An urban plaza or an outdoor social gathering area adjacent to the building.
• Walkways / multi-purpose trails with lighting and seating.
• Diamond and rectangular sports field development.
• Open green space for passive park uses and unstructured active recreation.
• Tennis and basketball courts.
• Interactive water play park as a component of the urban plaza.
• Public washroom facilities.
• A Parks Operations satellite service yard.

Decided: Aquatics

Support for both aquatic leisure and competitive training activities was identified as a priority in the consultation. To achieve this, a change was made to the aquatic program. The proposed 53m pool has been separated into two basins: one 25x25m lane pool to support fitness lane swimming, programs and drop-in swimming; and one 25x30m deep pool to support training activities for diving, water polo, and synchronized swimming. Because the focus is competitive training and not competitions, the 7.5m and 10m dive platforms were removed from the program. To support operational requirements, an improved program experience, and to avoid major disruptions in service, the proposed leisure pool was separated into a reduced leisure pool and a stand alone tot pool. The separation allows independent basin temperature control, management of pool chemistry balance.

Decided: Running Tracking

We heard a desire for an eight lane, 400m indoor running track. Due to space restrictions, this element will not fit within the recreation facility program. However, the planned three lane walking/running track will include an additional one lane straight for functional training. This means a portion of the track would have an additional lane for training for activities which require linear motion (i.e. sprints, kettlebell lunges, agility ladder work).

Decided: Climbing

The Medium Term Plan included a traditional climbing wall (climbing with ropes and harnesses) requiring dedicated staff and equipment to operate it. In the development of the Functional Program, it was determined that the high operating costs and the dedicated space required did not support a traditional climbing feature. In the Sharing Ideas consultation, there was a lot of support for climbing as an activity. As a result, climbing has been included as a bouldering wall feature (no harnesses required) to support both spontaneous and program use with less space and infrastructure requirements.

Decided: Party Rooms

In order to use spaces more efficiently, dedicated Party Rooms were removed from the program. The planned multi-purpose rooms are able to serve as Party Rooms when needed.

Decided: Arena

The need for a four pad arena was requested by the Arena User Committee. Due to size restrictions, other elements of the facility would have to be removed to accommodate a four pad arena. We heard from the Sharing Ideas consultation that there was support to keep all program elements.

Decided: Skateboard

There was strong support for an indoor skate/bmx park within the facility. Early concept plans included skateboarding as an activity to be included in the District Park. We are currently examining opportunities on how to best accommodate skateboarding as part of the Facility and Park either as an indoor or outdoor activity. The Edmonton Skateboard Association is proposing a partnership to develop an indoor skateboard / bmx park within the recreation centre. The inclusion of this amenity will be based on an evaluation of a business case submission by the group.

Decided: Gym

What we heard from you is the need to provide maximum flexibility and a range of functions in our gymnasium, multipurpose and fitness areas. There was strong support from the Gymnasium User Committee and internal staff to include an additional (third) gym space. This space could accommodate both rental and program uses and activities for multiple age groups. This additional gymnasium space would be accommodated by a reduced multi-purpose and fitness studio space. This reconfiguration of space is intended to better support the range of activities that you told us you would participate in (i.e. instructor led fitness, yoga, zumba, etc.) while still accommodating our the intended core gym activities such as soccer, badminton and basketball, etc.

Decided: School

The Council approved Lewis Farms Areas Structure Plan identifies a Separate School Board high school to be located on the Lewis Farms District Park. In 2014 the Edmonton Catholic School District approached the City to include an Academic Centre in the recreation facility rather than a stand-alone high school building. This is similar to the Cardinal Collins Academic Centre at the Clareview Community Recreation Centre. The programming elements of the Academic Centre are decided by the Province of Alberta.

Decided: Library

The functional program identified a medium sized Library branch. The Sharing Ideas consultation collected feedback to further develop the program for the library. The Exploring Options consultation will help further narrow down this program for the Library in the next phase.

Decided: Park

We heard strong support to include a playground and water spray park on the district park site. A playground is not included in the proposed program as currently there are 14 existing and planned playgrounds within a 2.5k radius around of the future Lewis Farms District Park. However, there is a gap in water play features in proximity to the district park. As a result, an interactive water spray park has been added as a component of the urban plaza. We heard support for the flexibility of open space in the park for uses such as fixtureless fields, picnicking, community events, and informal outdoor active recreational interests. Based on this, flexible open green space has been added to the park program. More detail will be added as we move through the stages of schematic design to determine the sizes and arrangement of these spaces within the park.

Decided: Operations Yard

Through the City of Edmonton’s Park Operations Maintenance Strategy, it was identified that there was a need for a Parks Operation satellite service yard that will be located on this site to serve the maintenance of this park, as well as other parks in the northwest district in Edmonton.