A small green and red-brick building, for two decades a familiar sight to Heron Park residents, is now gone. However, it will not be missed for long. In six months, a new and much improved facility will replace it.
Bordered by Sawmill Creek and Heron Road, the south-central Ottawa park has a playground, a baseball diamond, wading pool and skating rink. In the middle of it all was the Heron Park Field House.
The building had been meeting place for residents for more than 20 years. It had seen many barbecues, baseball games and amateur hockey matches in that time. Some commuters making their way to and from Heron Station sometimes even found themselves dodging stray balls flying from the baseball diamond.
The planned replacement project was initially one of the three community facilities funded in 2015 to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017. But eight years ago, the federal government cancelled the Heron Park Field House funding. Former city councillor David Chernushenko told CBC at the time that the cancellation was because of construction delays brought on by contaminated soil.
In a 2017 interview, Heron Park Community Association president Linda Gama-Pinto said she had been waiting for a new community centre for 15 years. “We were shocked, absolutely shocked,” she said about the cancelled project. “The wind was knocked out of our sails.”
That wait is now finally expected to end this spring after 23 long years.
In 2022, Capital Coun. Shawn Menard announced his commitment to replace the old Heron Park Field House. The $1.9 million expanded facility is now slated for use by early June.
The new field house includes gender-neutral and accessible washrooms and changerooms, a kitchenette, multi-use rooms and an extra change room for skaters.
Soil remediation was completed in November and construction on the field house will begin as soon as the snow melts this spring.
