In just over two weeks, islanders will decide whether or not to authorize the municipality to borrow up to $4 million to cover the remaining funds needed to build a community centre.
Proponents have been busy answering islanders’ many questions, including in a virtual open house last week (the entire video is available on the BIM YouTube page) and open house at Cove Commons Wednesday. The final of three information sessions is Saturday outside at BICS.
In last week’s virtual open house, project architect (and islander) Drew Rose walked through the design and operation of the 16,000 sq. ft. single-level centre with four wings: The government will reside in the west wing. Municipal offices will have reception desks distinct from those of the ‘community’ section of the building. There’s the long sought after large performance-multipurpose space with 180 retractable chairs, blackout curtains, backstage space and storage space. There’s the community living room, “the major socializing space within the building,” said Rose. Finally, there’s the recreation wing. (The community centre Facbook page clarified that the proposed fitness space is about the same square footage as the current fitness space in the community school. In his presentation, Rose pointed out the amount of glass and natural light in the new space.) A courtyard on the east side of the building holds the potential for outdoor activities, Rose said.
Liam Edwards, BIM’s chief administrative officer, addressed some proposal nuts and bolts and frequently asked questions.
The $7.96 million federal-provincial infrastructure grant BIM received was granted for this specific project. “We can’t simply just reallocate the funds to something different,” said Edwards.
“Using the grant funding wisely, does also set us up for success for future funding,” said Edwards, drawing in his previous experience working for the provincial government (among other duties, he ran funding programs that included this one). While failing to proceed with the project wouldn’t mean BIM wouldn’t get grants in the future, successful delivery is looked upon favourably by funders, provincial and otherwise, was Edwards’ gist.
Should the referendum fail, BIM would have some reckoning with the funders to convince them that it can gain electors’ support, said Edwards. “When a referendum does not pass for a project that has received funding, it gets the funders quite concerned,” said Edwards to a follow-up question. “And it introduces a level of risk they’re not very comfortable with.”
“It’s not a carte blanche, you lose the funding, game over,” said Edwards. “But it does mean you’ve got to put a very concerted effort to rebuild the trust of those funders.”
Operating expenses: It currently costs $270,000 to operate BIM’s rented facilities Edwards said, and this is expected to rise by $111,000 should the centre be built. While recreation fees, grants and interest from the community centre endowment fund should cover at least 45 per cent of the operating costs, this would leave the average Bowen property tax payer with a $47 increase on their bill, BIM estimates.
Is municipal hall necessary: On the inclusion of the municipal hall, Edwards pointed to saving money from economy of scale. “[By] bringing the municipal hall into that same building envelope, we’re just naturally going to save on the operating costs…from a utility perspective and also possibly from a staffing perspective.”
“It also creates an opportunity for more community use of spaces on either end of the municipal hall,” said Edwards. “That’s a really unique aspect to this project that I think helped receive the funding from the province, because we really did highlight the multi-use functionality of this space.”
When asked if the muni portion could be removed, Edwards said that while it’s an option, there would be significant costs involved as components of municipal multi-use spaces are factored into the funding. “It would be a fairly significant redesign to actually use that space in a different way.”
Edwards also clarified that not every room is created equal spending wise––office space is cheap in design and construction compared to the larger community spaces.
Is there enough parking: Edwards said that the proposed 36 stalls exceed the requirement under BIM’s Land Use Bylaw and pointed to overflow parking at BICS and in other places in the cove. He said they would work with BICS to try to make sure big events aren’t happening at the same time. They’ll also encourage islanders to take alternative modes of transit.
Expansion potential? This centre would take up all of the buildable land on the community centre lot, said Edwards. However, should parking be considered less of a need, some of that space could be used, also council could choose to designate more of the community lands for the centre. (The community centre lot is on a corner of Lot 2).
Why isn’t there a pool? Edwards was firm. “A pool is just not affordable for a community of our size,” he said. “Even if we could afford to build the pool, the cost of operating the pool is extraordinarily expensive.” In response to a later question, Edwards said that the cheapest pool he saw built over his 15 years with the province and working with all of B.C.’s municipalities (as deputy inspector of municipalities) was $10 million.
“But building this community center on time and on budget, with the funding that we received...we’ll actually build competence with those funding agencies and other agencies,” he said. “That can become a catalyst for future ideas and future expansions.”
Should the referendum not pass, the project wouldn’t move forward and there will be a “full rescoping and regrouping” and understanding why, said Edwards. An alternative is also community fundraising to amass the $4 million needed.
Time is of the essence Edwards also implied. “When our project was announced, it was announced alongside 96 other similar projects and all of those projects are going to be vying for the construction market to secure tenders and to secure contracts,” he said. “I want to get to market quickly to try to ensure that we secure that that bid quickly.”
“If the electorate thinks that this is worthy of pausing, then that’s perfect, that’s public’s perspective, and then we’ll have to take that pause. But that will cost us time and money.”
Other tidbits:
On the topic of youth programs, BIM will still rent the teen centre from Bowen Children’s Centre.
The building will be built to step three of the STEP code (the provincial energy efficiency standard). Net zero buildings are step five of the code.
The project has a $2 million contingency.
While this week was a regurgitation of the open house, next week the Undercurrent will delve into the history of the community centre project. How did we get here? Why did the 1997 referendum fail? What do oldtimers and newtimers think? We’ll also look deeper into some of the project opposition: tax burden, consultation questions and do we already have these spaces on-island?
