Go back to 2013. City council candidate Andrew Knack is knocking on doors in the west-end ward he wants to represent. The campaign takes him to many new communities that have been developed in the city’s west end.
“It felt like I could have had an AI version of myself going to the doors,” Knack recalls. “When it came to residents west of the Henday, there were two questions I consistently heard: ‘When are we getting the LRT to the west end?’ and ‘When are we getting a rec centre?’”
Today, the LRT is under construction, and plans are in place for City Council to spend $311 million on the Lewis Farms Community Recreation Centre, another new mega-centre that follows developments in Terwillegar and the Meadows.
These rec centres make huge differences when it comes to attracting residents to a community.
A recent study by Zoocasa, a real-estate search platform, stated that the top-ranked neighbourhoods in which to buy real estate are currently Terwillegar South, Terwillegar Towne and the Hamptons.
Drew Carlson, a realtor with eXp Realty, says the amenities that these communities offer, like being close to the Terwillegar Recreation Centre, are big attractors.
“A lot of people don’t think about that when they move [centrally], that the amenities they’ll need are farther from them than they anticipated,” he says.
“And there are a lot of affordable, cottage-style homes, it’s close to amenities, restaurants, and there’s close access to the Henday.”
He says when people buy homes, some of the things they care most about are being close to places that’ll have swimming lessons for the kids, rec programs and maybe a place for the adults to play shinny or indoor soccer once a week.
University of Washington researcher Kathleen Wolf backed up this idea in a 2010 study that showed a 10 per cent increase in value of a house that’s located within two or three blocks of an “active recreation park.”
And that sustained boom, like we’re seeing in the southwest, is what Knack believes will happen in those west-of-the-Henday neighbourhoods once the Lewis Farms complex is complete.
“This is what we have seen in other parts of the city — we see that it adds value in the years to come,” he says.
“I can’t stress enough the importance of the Lewis Farms Rec Centre and Library. The communities that this building will serve do not have their own community league buildings, and so this will become the community hub for tens of thousands of people. It’s going to be the place where families come together, it will be a space for students to visit after school, it will be a place where new Edmontonians come to learn and play while meeting some of their new neighbours.”
And, Lewis Farms will help the communities it serves become more urban than some of the neighbourhoods closer to downtown. The 15-minute community, if it is to become a reality, has to be more than having a bike path or a convenience store close to a resident’s front door. It has to be about playing in the community, as well.
“Building places for people is a shared goal amongst many city builders — the real estate development industry, elected and municipal officials, and community organizations,” says Kalen Anderson, executive director of the Urban Development Institute, Edmonton Metro. “Our city’s current policies are all about allowing more activities to happen closer to home. Building great places all over the city for local communities to take part in benefits all types of households and all ages. Ideally, a wide variety of experiences are close enough to access without needing to travel across town to enjoy them — things like job opportunities, daycare, schools, recreation centres, housing, seniors’ facilities, commercial areas and more.”
Anderson’s vision is being realized in these outer neighbourhoods. But, while the core has parks for dogs and parks for art, it’s hard to find playgrounds or outdoor basketball courts or really good playing fields. But it’s not just rec centres: Edmonton’s major soccer complexes are located at 50th Street and the Henday (Ivor Dent) and the west end (231st Street and Highway 16A). Look at the section below and you’ll see a chart of where the major soccer clubs play in the Metro area — there’s nothing close to the core. The same is true with baseball facilities — it’s either Callingwood out by West Edmonton Mall, Mill Woods Park or places in the east end of the city, like Rundle Park or Rollie Miles.
“Those amenities are closer to those newer communities, now — and your driving distance is significantly less,” says Collin Campbell, the president of Mattamy Homes’ Alberta Division.
So, thanks to the big mega centres we’re seeing near the edges of Edmonton, the term “drive till you qualify,” has become a misnomer. And that’s because there’s less need to drive once you get out into the burbs.
You can place your children in community league soccer — they’ll play locally, but the season only lasts a few weeks and the level of competition isn’t super high. If you take the plunge, like thousands of parents do, to put your child into club soccer, you’re going to spend a lot of time in the ‘burbs. If your kids have games and practices four to five times a week, why would you not want to live as close as you can to one of these facilities?
Here’s a list of the fields being used by the Edmonton Minor Soccer Association’s U11 girls league in 2023:
Baseball: If your child lives downtown, or in Oliver, Westmount, his or her “home” association is the Northeast Zone, and many home games will be played at Rundle Park, at Victoria Trail and the Yellowhead.
This article appears in the July/Aug 2023 issue of Edify
