Active Communities Alberta

We have exciting news to share! St. Albert is moving forward with a 3rd party review our 150 page business case. We are confident this project will save taxpayers ~$1 million annually. Our project will use the non-profit model to run the facility on a self-sustaining basis, instead of requiring ongoing taxpayer subsidization. This model is successful in other Alberta cities. https://www.stalberttoday.ca//st-albert-launches-value-for

St. Albert Gazette coverage of the Town Hall we hosted last week. Thank you to all those who attended and everyone for your support. The City of St. Albert contribution would equate to a monthly tax increase of just $3.47 for the average household - less than the price of a Starbucks coffee. https://www.stalberttoday.ca//non-profit-rec-facility-mode

What a great turnout! Thank you to all those that attended our Town Hall. The support for our project has been overwhelming and we appreciate this strong interest from the community. This further strengthens our commitment to delivering a non-profit recreation facility that saves millions of dollars for taxpayers. Truly a win-win! https://www.stalberttoday.ca//active-communities-holding-t

Reminder to everyone about the Town Hall tomorrow! We look forward to having you attend and hearing your input.

Mark your calendars for the Sport & Community Campus Town Hall next Monday!!! Active Communities Alberta invites you to attend the Town Hall on February 24. Agenda includes the latest news on our Sport & Community Campus project, a Q&A session and opportunity to provide your input into facility design. Looking forward to seeing you there! Active Communities Alberta is a non-profit society comprised entirely of volunteers. We are working to build a Sport & Community Campus that will provide much needed recreation and community facilities. We appreciate the support our project has received from stakeholder groups, government and the community as a whole. For more information, please visit: www.ActiveCommunitiesAB.ca

We are proud of our role in being a catalyst for 59 acres of land (worth over $15 million) being donated by the Rohit Group for the Recreation Campus! 3 years ago the city direction was focused on continuing to expand Servus Place. Through our Non-Profit’s advocacy with Council and City Administration about the benefit of a new location, this focus shifted. Thank you for listening and for your support on this change. Several developers stepped up to donate land, specifically Landrex and Rohit. Fast forward today and St Albert has a major land asset that will benefit citizens for many years to come. Great teamwork by all those involved to achieve this win-win! Looking forward to the work that lies ahead. https://www.stalberttoday.ca/ou/the-work-starts-now-2036040

The sun sets on a monumental day for St. Albert. Congratulations to St. Albert City Council on making the recreation land decision. This decision will benefit the city for many years to come. Thank you to all those that put effort into supporting this decision, specifically City Administration and the land developers that came forward with offers (Landrex and Rohit). The chosen site is the Range Road 260 (Rohit) land located adjacent to Ray Gibbon Drive, between Giroux and Villeneuve Road. This photo features tonight’s sunset over the RR 260 site.

Recreation Land Decision Coming! St. Albert City Council is expected to select the site for the Sport & Community Campus on Monday. We are excited for this decision and appreciate the support our project has received from all members of City Council. Our non-profit organization is planning to build and operate the facility without the need for ongoing subsidization - saving taxpayers millions of dollars annually. St. Albert Gazette Article:... https://www.stalberttoday.ca//getting-the-ball-rolling-on- For additional information about the land decision check out our website at www.activecommunitiesab.ca or the following links: Landrex Land Offer Package (Erin Ridge North) https://stalbert.ca.legistar.com/View.ashx Rohit Land Offer Package (Range Road 260) https://stalbert.ca.legistar.com/View.ashx St. Albert City Council Package: https://stalbert.ca.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx

St. Albert City Council is poised to make a major decision at its meeting on Sep 23 regarding our Sport & Community Campus. Council meeting is open to the public and starts at 3:00 PM at St. Albert Place. Here is a Gazette news article from yesterday regarding the project: https://www.stalberttoday.ca//active-communities-looks-for

Tonight at 7:00 pm on 630 CHED Active Communities President Matt Bachewich will be interviewed by Reid Wilkins regarding the Sport & Wellness Campus Project. Tune in for the latest news! https://globalnews.ca//pro/inside-sports-with-reid-wilkins

The Sport & Wellness Campus is a major opportunity for regional collaboration, community benefit and taxpayer savings. We're excited and thankful for the support the project has been receiving in Edmonton, St. Albert and beyond. Looking forward to continuing to work together with these municipalities, the province and many other stakeholders. https://www.stalbertgazette.com//edmonton-councillor-eyes-

Standing room only at last night's St. Albert Council meeting with many supporters in attendance! Council voted in favour of up to $20 million in conditional support for the Sport & Wellness Campus. Thank you to all the supporters that attended, to those that presented and to Council for your endorsement.

Nearly 2 years of work culminate with decision day Monday! At 3:00 PM St. Albert Council will vote on the Sport & Wellness Campus, featuring multiple indoor arenas, gymnasiums and space for community groups. Thank you everyone for your support and Council for your consideration!

All genders should have access to quality change rooms. This same situation happens frequently at Edmonton & St. Albert facilities, which normally only have 4 dressing rooms. Our Sport & Wellness Campus will have 6 full-sized dressing rooms for each arena and 6 change rooms for each gymnasium. http://thesarniajournal.ca/city-arenas-lack-appropriate-ch/

Thank you St. Albert Councillor Jacquie Hansen for putting a motion forward in support of an MOU. We are excited to continue moving forward with the Sport & Wellness Campus Project. https://www.stalbertgazette.com//hansen-moves-to-support-s Video of our full presentation to St. Albert City Council:... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3c00strZRc See more

Major update on the Sport & Wellness Campus Project. Presentation to St. Albert City Council last Tuesday. 5 minute presentation followed by over 20 minutes of discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3c00strZRc www.ActiveCommunitiesAB.ca

UPDATE ALERT!!! Learn the latest on the Sport & Wellness Campus Project as presented to St. Albert City Council. Thank you Council for the opportunity to present and discuss the project. Presentation link: http://www.activecommunitiesAB.ca

St. Albert Gazette article from today's paper regarding the Sport & Wellness Campus we are planning. https://www.stalbertgazette.com//plans-regional-sport-camp. Regional collaboration brings economies of scale for construction and operating costs, resulting in increased taxpayer savings. The need exists for more recreation and community facilities. The opportunity exists for doing this in a cost-effective manner for taxpayers through the non-profit approach. For more information visit http://www.activecommunitiesab.ca

Excellent article by @dstaples today, definitely worth a read: http://edmontonjournal.com/opini/columnists/david-staples-5 Edm didn't open any arenas from 1998 to 2010; population grew by over 160,000 (25%) during that time. City is still playing catch-up to meet its benchmark ratios. ... The site we are proposing to build on has 35 acres of land. For for reference, Terwillegar rec centre (including parking) is 15 acres. So there is enough room for our facility, a full-size indoor soccer facility and future expansion on this same site. Edmonton talks about the need for new arenas here as well: http://www.cbc.ca//more-rinks-still-needed-even-if-northla

Hot off the press, the shortage of Edmonton Arenas! The Edmonton Recreation Facility Master Plan (RFMP) sets the benchmark ratio of 1 City arena for every 25,000 citizens. Edmonton was achieving this benchmark in late 1990's. However, a lack of investment in the 2000's combined with population growth caused this shortage to balloon. Even the addition of Terwillegar's 4 arenas in 2011 only put a dent in the shortage. This chart only shows "additional" arenas required - it d...oes not show replacement arenas that will need to be built to address the closure of many aging single ice arenas. The chart does factor in 3.25 future arenas (Lewis Farms 2 & U of A South Campus 1.25) and assumes these sheets are all growth arenas, not replacement arenas. Lots of capital investment is required in the near future to address the shortage and provide replacement arenas for the aging facilities. See more

Excited to be appearing on the Jason Gregor Show tomorrow (Thursday). Tune into the Team1260 at 2:20 PM. Looking forward to chatting about aging arena infrastructure and Active Communities' plans to help address this issue.