The East York Community Centre is temporarily closed as it undergoes some much needed upgrades.
The renovations include upgrading the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in the building at 1081 Pape Ave. The $600,000 project is being jointly funded by the federal, provincial and municipal governments, including the Recreational Infrastructure Canada Program in Ontario (RInC) and the Ontario Recreation Program (Ontario REC)."Most of the money is going towards (the HVAC replacement)...there's also some basic state of good repair upgrades that will take place to the facility," said David Nosella, supervisor of capital projects with the city.It is estimated the work will take four months to complete so the facility is expected to re-open at the beginning of January. The decision on the timing of the shutdown was decided upon in consultation with staff and after a community meeting. The pool at the facility is usually shut down in September for maintenance anyway."It was agreed this was the best time to shut it down and do the work," Nosella said. "It's not something we like to do, but it's an opportunity we had to jump on."The building is an older one and there had been complaints about ventilation, especially during the summer months. "Definitely it needed some work," Nosella said. The Todmorden Room Branch of the Toronto Public Library will also be closed during the renovations. All recreation programming, leisure swims and instructional programming have been canceled. A number of recreation programs have been relocated to other City of Toronto recreation facilities.