By Pepper Parr
January 17th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
UPDATE: The city anticipates a phased opening of Skyway Community Centre and Park and amenities beginning in the spring of 2025 with full opening in Fall 2025.
It’s costing the city a bundle, much of the money borrowed; it is a beautiful structure – one that the residents of the east end are going to love.
No word yet from the city on when it will open – the Skyway Community Centre has almost everything you could expect a community centre to have.is
For an interesting visual tour of the community centre click HERE
Plans exist for a large community to be developed a couple of hundred yards away from the community centre. Set below is a rendering of what the developer would like to proceed with.
The plans for this project are somewhere in the planning loop. Across the road and a couple of hundred yards to the east the Burloak park adds to the facilities that are going to be available to this community when it eventually gets built.
I cannot wait for it to open. We live close by and have been waiting for this for years
Yes…it has cost the city a bundle! And here’s what’s wrong with the design:
1) it is much too close to the road. The previous arena had parking to the side, and an expanse of green space on the front. That’s now gone.
2) the park that used to be on the north side of the complex is now gone. There is now a gigantic baseball diamond, which is great, except kids don’t play baseball anymore to the extent they used to. Moreover, the previous baseball diamonds were unused before, and will likely be unused again. Wasted space? Probably.
3) the green space to the south of the new complex is nice, except it backs on the entrance way to Lakeside Village plaza, so no one will see it, and no one will use it.
For a municipal administration that keeps harping on about “environmental sustainability” and “greening the environment” one wonders how great this complex might have been if the designers had actually listened to public input. Alas. Same old, same old…
As for the mall re-development, we’re now on design version #3. Each successive design is more ludicrous, absurd and ridiculous than the previous iteration. If the developer had actually listened to public input back in 2017 we would have had a low rise development with residents living there, a retail space that is vibrant, and satisfied public. Again, a compelling failure to engage and listen.
Looks great.I will be using the walking track for sure next winter .Perhaps some jr B hockey games as well.Great investment imo.