Flegel promising rec centre for Harbour Landing if elected

In his run to be mayor of Regina, Jerry Flegel believes he can fix what’s missing in the Harbour Landing neighbourhood.

On Thursday at a campaign announcement, Flegel promised to build a new recreation centre for Harbour Landing.

“(On council) we’ve always talked about complete communities and this ends up being one of these things that’ll be completed, because we have homes, we have housing, we have schools, we have retail — we have all kinds of things, but we’re missing something,” said Flegel.

He compared the idea to the Sandra Schmirler Leisure Centre in southeast Regina or the North West Leisure Centre. The new facility would have a pool, fitness centre and community areas.

“We can go to centralized, we can do all kinds of things, but at the end of the day people want community. They want this,” said Flegel.

Flegel said the population in Harbour Landing has skyrocketed over the last few years, getting to about 14,000 people, but he said a new rec centre would benefit nearby neighbourhoods as well.

The closest rec centre to Harbour Landing is in a neighbourhood across Lewvan Drive on Sunset Drive.

There isn’t an area picked out yet for the centre — Flegel said it could go in the same area as the provincial government is planning to build two new joint-use schools. He said there could be a partnership in that way.

As for who’s going to foot the bill, Flegel said in the past for such projects, there would be a partnership between the three levels of government and he expects that would happen in this case.

“All the different levels of government always have a contributing factor. And if it doesn’t, then we find other ways, and there are people out there, privately, looking to do things,” said Flegel.

Flegel said he believes the project would at least have a plan by the end of his first term.

The civic election is set for Monday.