The Queensway Terrace North community in west-end Ottawa is looking forward to a renewed public park this year.
Frank Ryan Park will see the resurfacing of the tennis courts. Plans for the renewal of the community building and other facilities were finalized in November.
The park is bracketed by baseball diamonds and backed by a forest. Winding pathways lead to two tennis courts at the corner of Alpine Avenue and Clarenda Street.
A small driveway off of Stuart Kettles Street points toward the Frank Ryan Park field house. The building is surrounded by a playground, wading pool, skating rink, basketball court and six community garden plots.
The exterior bricks of the small building are a weathered white, except for a colourful mural on one side, depicting animals and flowers alongside the words “amour” and “love.”
Changes to the tennis courts will include resurfacing, two new accessible pathways and accessible benches, according to the city’s plan.
Renewal of the area around the field house includes a new playground, moving the basketball court and more green space with accessible seating by the pool, according to documents shared at an Oct. 29 consultation posted to YouTube.
The existing field house, built in 1961, will be demolished and replaced by a community centre more than double the size of the building today. It will include two multi-purpose meeting rooms, a kitchen, washrooms and change rooms.
The building will be fully accessible and will “pursue high level energy efficiency and sustainability,” the consultation materials say.
“As you can see, it’s beautiful. It’s exciting,” Bay Ward Coun. Theresa Kavanagh said at the Oct. 29 consultation.
The project is expected to cost around $2 million, according to Louise Cerveny, a City of Ottawa project manager who was also at the October meeting.
Despite community hopes, the mural on the existing field house will not be saved.
“It is lovely, but there’s no way that we can save it,” Cerveny said. “The cost is prohibitive.”
She said it may be possible for a photo of the mural to be displayed elsewhere in the renewed park or building.
The renewal of Frank Ryan Park has been in the works since 2022, Cerveny said.
While construction on the tennis courts will begin this year, Cerveny said the team will have a “clearer idea” of the next stages of the new building project when it obtains more funding.
Kavanaugh said there hasn’t yet been confirmation of when the new building will be finished.
“It is expensive, so it’s slow to get the funding,” she said. “But it’s worth it.”
