This is my last post on this topic (I think :)).  Wendy Schau,  Ward 4 Councillor, had some good points that she researched.  They may be useful for others as well :-

Hello Zeeshan

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I’ve looked into the concerns and possibilities that you shared.  The information that I gathered is below.

Need for upgrading

- Actually to have almost  200 out of a possible 7000 people participating in an activity is a fairly good rate, I think. Any organization I’ve belonged to would be very happy to have a 1 out of every 35 participation rate. 
- The current courts are beyond repair. They were built on a ‘rubble base’ and possibly an underground creek.

There is significant cost every year filling holes & cracks just to make them safe. They must be totally rebuilt.The residents on Nassagaweya have the court and letting them deteriorate until they are unusable would not be acceptable.

 - Part of the cost is in test holes to determine the best location. the courts will likely be relocated on the property to a better base.

This is also an opportunity to re-position the courts to a more ‘playable’ position that avoids the ‘sun’ issue in the summer months.

 - Before the fire hall, the property was a gas station. There may be other issues uncovered in the testing. (also included in costs)

This is one issue that makes the ‘current use’ possible, but other uses (& potential sale) difficult. It falls within the Niagara Escarpment designation which would require re-zoning (NEC permission) for any change of use.  During the public consultations for the Brookville Park,  the Brookville residents turned down the possibility of re-locating the tennis courts to their park.

Other facilities for the rural area:

 

- Other facilities would be wonderful in the rural area but location is an issue. There is simply not a feasible location (at least at this time) for an arena, pool, skate board park, library, etc.

All have neighbourhood or zoning restrictions.

(for example, the Lion’s Hall is too close to a railway to introduce a new community use. All current uses permitted because they are historic.)

 

- Even if there was a location, construction is just one of the costs.The Operating Costs are prohibitive because of the distance from our urban facilities.Single pad arenas are a thing of the past and  the new branch library in east Milton has been difficult for the Town to afford. The library has a ‘free mail service’ for rural residents. It’s the least expensive way to serve the rural area.There is no suitable location for a pool. It would require a huge parcel of land to accommodate parking and/or transit access.

 

The Town has invested in areas with higher participation..

In 2007-08, It spent $2M to buy a new entrance and improve (trails & play structure) Brookville Park.

I wasn’t aware of this previously but the future of Moffat Park will likely include a ‘practice’ soccer field and the play structure is regularly inspected.

I hope you find this information helpful.
Thank you again for your interest in this issue.

Wendy Schau

I think at this point I have enough information on this topic (both pro and against).  Lets move on to something else.  I am going to pick on the Regional Council a bit.  They are likely overwhelmed by Milton’s explosive growth, but I still feel that Milton is a bit under-represented.  More on this later.