After 20 years, the Airport Heights Community Centre has been slated for demolition.
City council voted unanimously on Monday evening to demolish the building, with reports that the building has decayed over the years. As well, the recently built Paul Reynolds Centre, which offers similar programming in the same area, was cited as a reason for the city to let go of the structure.
The building was primarily used for birthday parties and children’s summer programs.
Ward 4 Coun. Ian Froude says the building wasn’t worth repairing.
“Several groups came forward with interest to use the property, so we sent our inspectors in to have a look at the condition of it to see if it was safe to use or what repairs would be required. The conclusion of the inspectors was that it wasn’t sensible to repair,” said Froude.
“There’s barely a foundation on the building. It’s wood, not concrete of any sort.”
The building was built in 1997 out of two trailers that were installed as a make-shift structure. The intention was for the structure to be temporary, but in 2004 an addition was added to the building to help its longevity.
The Airport Heights Residents committee had been operating the building for years, until the committee became inactive.
St. John’s Minor Baseball came forward to look into using the building, which led to the inspection that deemed the building unfit for repair.
A tender will be put out for the demolition. There’s no timeline for the demolition, though it’s not expected to take very long for the tender to be awarded.
Ward 1 Coun. Deanne Stapleton expressed in the meeting that she hoped that some use would be found for the land, perhaps in the shape of another community centre.
Froude says as far as he’s aware, there are no plans for the land right now.
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