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. Six months from now, a new and much improved community facility will be in its place.
Bordered by Sawmill Creek and Heron Road, the south-central Ottawa park has a playground, baseball diamond, wading pool and skating rink. In the middle of it all sat the Heron Park Field House.
The field house had served as a meeting place for area residents for more than 20 years. It had seen many barbecues, baseball games, and amateur hockey games in its time. Some commuters making their way to and from Heron Station sometimes found themselves dodging stray balls 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 project funding. Former city councillor David Chernushenko told CBC News that year that this was due to construction delays brought on by contaminated soil in the area.
In the 2017 interview with CBC, 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 at the time. “The wind was knocked out of our sails.”
That wait is finally expected to come to an 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 new, expanded facility is now slated for use by early June, with a $1.9- million budget.
The final proposed design for the new field house includes gender-neutral and accessible washrooms and changerooms, a kitchenette, multi-use rooms, and an extra change room for skaters — a handy feature of the facility for anyone in the community drawn to the community’s outdoor rink.
Soil remediation was completed in November and construction on the field house will begin as soon as the snow melts this spring.
Updates on the project can be found on Menard’s and the City of Ottawa’s website.
