Calgary council approves recreation facility strategy that could cost up to $6B over 25 years

February 25, 2025 Canuck

Calgary city council approved a recreation facility strategy on Tuesday that could cost the city between $200 million and $250 million a year — or up to $6 billion over 25 years.

City administration will now develop an implementation plan that includes a funding strategy to ensure the cost burden doesn’t solely rely on municipal taxes.

Recommendations for the city’s “Gameplan” were unanimously approved by Calgary’s community development committee earlier this month.

In a news release Tuesday, the city called the approval a “significant step forward in reimagining Calgary’s public recreation system.”

The city says Gameplan addresses widespread underinvestment in public recreation, Calgary’s aging recreation facilities, rising operational costs and the city’s growing population. Most of Calgary’s public recreation facilities are more than 35 years old.

Over the past five years, several city facilities have either closed or operated at or near capacity, the city says. Many were built before the 1990s and are nearing the end of their life cycles.

“Today’s decision by council is a commitment to improving quality of life for all Calgarians,” Ward 3 Coun. Jasmine Mian said in a city news release.

“We will not only catch up from years of underinvestment, but we will also ensure our public recreation system remains sustainable, inclusive and effective for the next 25 years and beyond.”

Heather Johnson, director of recreation and social programs for the City of Calgary, said in a release the approval of Gameplan sets the service level standard for public recreation in the city.

“It’s a service standard that says, ‘We want every child to learn how to swim, we want every kid to play the sport they love, we want newcomers to have spaces to join in community and we want seniors to feel connected,'” she said.

Under Gameplan, the city will increase the availability of swimming lessons by 40 per cent (per capita), bookable hours at ice sheets by 25 per cent, more than double bookable hours at indoor fields, and ensure that 86 per cent of Calgarians live within five kilometres of an aquatic facility.

The plan includes consistent funding for 67 outdoor and indoor ice rinks, 13 field houses, 89 athletic park fields and 26 aquatic facilities — including 296 swim lanes and 25 leisure pools.

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