Article content continued

Photo by Postmedia Archives

Bid documents published online last week suggest the city is looking for a consultant to develop a tool to help calculate the value of investing in new or existing facilities.

“They have to address the aging infrastructure,” said Murray Sigler, CEO of Sport Calgary. “At some point, you have to decide is it better to replace them with a new facility or put money into the old one, and they’ve got to look at it location by location.

“Some of the arenas were built in 1945; they go way back. They have to be maintained or else they can become a hazard and nobody wants leaking ammonia plants in ice rinks; that’s got to be a priority for the aging infrastructure.”

Sigler says the city also has to carefully consider the demographics and needs of communities when evaluating investments or cuts to recreation infrastructure.

“The greatest impact of cuts, and of investments, too, can be on the people that don’t often tend to have a voice, that they don’t often hear from: I’m thinking of people with disabilities, people with low incomes, new Calgarians, new Canadians,” said Sigler.

Coun. George Chahal echoed Sigler’s comments Thursday, pointing out that his northeast ward is growing faster than other parts of the city, but suffers from a dearth of recreational facilities and fields.

“We’re the only ward in the city without an ice pad. The Genesis Centre has had over 1.5 million users for several years now and is bursting at the seams,” Chahal said. “We do have tremendous need.”