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RIM Park

RIM Park Exterior

RIM Park Exterior

RIM Park is a 500-acre (2 km²) city park facility offering both outdoor and indoor amenities located at 2001 University Ave. East, which is on the northeast side of the city of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, close to the Eastbridge neighbourhood. Key facilities and features include the Manulife Financial Sportsplex and Healthy Living Centre, the heritage Elam Martin farmstead, The Benchwarmer sports bar, and the Grey Silo Golf Course. The eastern edge of the park borders on the Grand River for 1.5 km, and the park grounds host about 7 km (4 miles) of asphalt trail loops.

In the planning stages, the multi-amenity park had been called Millennium Recreation Park, however the name RIM Park was chosen to acknowledge the large contributions from its primary donor, the employees of Research In Motion (RIM) (now doing business as BlackBerry Limited since January 2013), who contributed $2 million in 2001. The total up-front cost of building the park was $56.7-million, most of which was financed by a lease-style loan. Parts of the park opened in June 2001, and the grand opening was held on November 3, 2001.

Indoor Sporting Complex

RIM Park Rink

RIM Park Rink

RIM Park's indoor multi-use recreation facility is called the Manulife Sportsplex and Healthy Living Centre, and is funded by Manulife Financial. Facilities in the complex include 4 rinks, 1 field, 2 gymnasiums, and 1 stage.

Ice Rinks

RIM Park's Sportsplex houses 4 Olympic-sized ice pads with 36 large players' dressing rooms, and 6 officials' dressing rooms with showers^[4]. For hosting indoor events, the rinks are covered and have a 1000-person capacity per rink.

Piller's Ice Haus

·       2,289 sq. m. (24,640 sq. ft.)

·       500-person auditorium-style seating capacity

·       Press box and sound room

Optimist's and Lions Rinks

·       Optimist's Rink is 2,426 sq. m. (26,115 sq. ft.)

·       Lions Rink is 2,439 sq. m. (26,254 sq. ft.)

Carolyn Fedy Skating Centre at RIM Park

Carolyn Fedy Skating Centre at RIM Park

·       250-person bench-style seating capacity

Carolyn Fedy Skating Centre

·       2,349 sq. m. (25,285 sq. ft.)

RIM Park Indoor Field with Dividers Up

RIM Park Indoor Field with Dividers Up

·       Home of the Kitchener-Waterloo Skating Club

Indoor Field

·       3,852 sq. m. (41,464 sq. ft.) AstroTurf field

·       One large field; dividable into three separate fields

·       300-person portable bench-style seating capacity

Gymnasiums

·       Two NBA-size gymnasiums; dividable into four single gyms

·       2,427 sq. m. (26,125 sq. ft.) of space

·       Nike-sprung maple floors

Stage

·       210 sq. m. (2,260 sq. ft.): 12- to 15-metres long (40- to 50-feet) by 9- to 12-metres wide (30- to 40-feet)

·       1,300-person floor capacity for full court

Amenities

Food and Beverage

RIM Park is home to The Benchwarmer (full-service Restaurant and Sports Bar), The Dugout (the main concession, featuring a variety of fast-service spots that offer beverages, snacks, full meals, and treats), and On the Go (quick snacks and warm beverages). For events, RIM Park also offers catering services and custom packages.

Forbes Family Hall

·       Banquet and meeting room with 700-person capacity

·       929 sq. m. (10,000 sq. ft.) of space, dividable into four sections with a 175-person capacity for each room

·       Four kitchens for special event catering

Meeting and Program Rooms

·       Six meeting rooms with available food and beverage service, each of which have an 80- to 90-person capacity

·       Three multi-purpose program rooms, two of which can combine into one larger room

RIM Park Skate Shop

The Skate Shop located inside RIM Park offers skate sharpening, hockey equipment supplies and repairs, figure-skating accessories, medical and first-aid supplies, and various sports' apparel.

Waterloo Sports Medicine Clinic

The Waterloo Sports Medicine Clinic (WSM) has been in operation since 1986, with one location at University Square Plaza, and their other location at RIM Park, which opened in 2001. WSM currently has about 90,000 clients, and offers custom foot orthotics, massage therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, pilates training, sport biomechanical analysis, sports nutrition, and sports psychology.

Outdoor Sports Facilities

There are a total of 22 outdoor sporting facilities at RIM Park: 12 multi-purpose fields with nighttime field lighting (including 2 international-sized artificial turf fields and 4 natural grass fields), 6 official ball diamonds with fencing and portable bleacher seating, and 4 sand beach-volleyball courts. These facilities received funding from the Waterloo Minor Soccer Club. The outdoor area has a playground, player benches, spectator seating, a pavilion, washrooms, accessible parking, and a one-kilometre walking/running loop.

Environment

There are two main ecological areas that the RIM Park land encompasses: an east floodplain, and a west upland system; since both of these environments are regularly disturbed, they provide an ideal habitat for weedy, invasive, non-native species. This type of intact, native floodplain community is an increasingly vanishing and thereby valued ecosystem.

File:Rim-park-greenlab.jpg

RIM Park GreenLab

GreenLab

The City of Waterloo's GreenLab pavilion is located at RIM Park's outdoor sport-field facilities. The project teaches people about environmental best practices with a demonstration featuring RIM Park's water harvesting system that stores water underneath one of the astro-turf fields to water the four natural-grass fields, and is commonly used for class field-trips.

Water Harvesting System

View from Walter Bean Trail

View from Walter Bean Trail

The water harvesting system is a strategy contrived by the City of Waterloo to conserve water at RIM Park by collecting storm water underneath one of the artificial astro-turf fields and using this water to maintain the four natural-grass fields for competitive play.

Trails

RIM Park grounds offer about 7 km (4 miles) of asphalt trail loops partially alongside the Grand River. The trails also access the Walter Bean Trail.

·       Interactive Trail Map.

Heritage

RIM Park is situated amidst two of Waterloo's key heritage points. The perimeter of the Park's area borders the Grand River, which was designated as a heritage river in 1994 due to its centrality in the agricultural and industrial settlement of Ontario by European settlers. RIM Park gives Waterloo area residents and tourists direct access to 1.5 km (about 1 mile) of the Grand River along the eastern perimeter of the Park.

RIM Park is also home to a sixth-generation Mennonite farm house, called the Elam Martin farmstead. The Elam-Martin Farmstead was constructed in ~1820, and was purchased by the City of Waterloo in 1999 as part of a long-term heritage preservation plan. The property is currently located on about 4.5 hectacres (11 acres) of land incorporated into RIM Park.

Funding Controversy

**Since I've already edited the live RIM Park page itself, please see the official page to check my edits to the "funding controversy" section. I was unable to edit this particular section in my Sandbox due to copyright issues. Thanks!