Maple Ridge charging ahead with Hammond rec centre plan

Maple Ridge has its eyes set on Hammond as the home for a new indoor pool and ice arena. 

On Tuesday night, the city announced they are moving forward with public engagement on a proposed recreation facility at Hammond Community Park in the new year, three months after launching a feasibility project for the area. 

“I know everyone on council is excited about this,” stated Mayor Dan Ruimy at the Dec. 12 meeting. “It’s something that we all talked about during the campaign, every one of us, so it’s exciting to see it coming through.” 

Hammond Community Park is currently home to a community centre and outdoor pool that are each at the end of their lifespans, the city wrote on its website. 

Earlier this year, the city completed a parks and recreation master plan review that showed strong public support for new recreation facilities, said Christa Balatti, manager of special projects in the parks, recreation and culture department. 

The new Hammond centre would give Maple Ridge its second indoor pool and fifth ice sheet.

Despite the public enthusiasm, there was some pushback from residents when the city announced that they were exploring a new rec facility in Hammond, stated Coun. Ahmed Yousef. 

In September, following the release of the city’s recreational feasibility project on Facebook, residents expressed reservations about increasing traffic to the neighbourhood and losing both baseball fields. 

Yousef asked if the city has any backup sites for the potential building. 

“This is the one location we are looking at, at this point in time,” responded Stephane Labonne, the city’s general manager of parks, recreation and culture. “This is where all of our eggs are in our baskets right now.”

The park also hosts two baseball diamonds: Hammond Stadium and the Larry Walker Field, which serve as home fields for the Ridge Meadows Minor Baseball Association, an organization that fields teams from the ages of five to 26. 

Both fields would be moved to a new location if the project proceeds, according to a September press release from the city. 

The current council has shown strong commitment to supporting baseball in Ridge Meadows, wrote Tyler Shymkiw, the club’s president, in an email to The Ridge. But it’s too early to comment on the plans for a new rec centre in the neighbourhood. 

“It’s impossible for us to judge the pending Hammond Stadium plan until the city’s promised replacement plan is made public,” Shymkiw wrote. 

“We are however cautiously optimistic given the city’s strong support of baseball that this plan will further move forward and support baseball in the community.”

Design options are expected to be complete in March or April, stated Christa Balatti, manager of special projects in the city’s parks, recreation and culture department. 

Research and analysis of the project — including traffic and parking reviews — will take place in the winter, before a final report is estimated to come before council in July. 

The city has hired the Vancouver-based consulting firm hcma to complete the feasibility study. 

The firm has previously worked on recreation projects in Maple Ridge, Balatti said, and developed similar feasibility studies for future recreation centres in North Vancouver and Surrey. 

As the public engagement process gets underway in 2024, there will be feedback sessions targeted specifically at Hammond residents, Balatti added. 

The recreation centre would be a great addition to the Town Centre and Lougheed corridors, especially with the arrival of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Coun. Jenny Tan stated. 

“We really need growth around the Town Centre area, transit areas with BRT stops,” she stated. “I’m really happy where we have planned it.”

There is no date for when construction will begin on the project.

At the meeting, Labonne said that the next step for the recreation department is to get a funding envelope from council to do detailed designs on the project and estimate final costs for the facility.

“Prior to that process, there will probably be a conversation with council on how are we going to finance this thing,” stated Labonne, adding that the designs and financial information for the project should be done sometime next fall.

“There’s a number of big conversations coming up once this work is done.”