New Community Centre

Background

As per the Village of Lions Bay Official Community Plan (Bylaw 420), ‘Policies & Actions for Strengthening the Community: a) Community Centre’:

“Consider opportunities for an expanded or a new community centre and examine various location options such as the existing Municpal Centre precinct, the works yard, the gravel pit area, and areas designated for Recreation and Community Use.

The result of this prerogative was the appointment of a Community Centre Task Force (CCTF) in 2009 to explore the concept of a new community centre, to consult with the community, to investigate financing options, and report back to Council.

The Lions Bay Community Centre Task Force was made up of residents, plus two members of Council. The members were: Pieter Dorsman (Chair), Lori Atherton, Brenda Broughton (Mayor), Eric Gerlach, Edward Langford, David Shore, Ruth Simons (Councillor), and Marek Sredzki

The Village municipal building and Village Hall date back to the 1970’s, when the current municipal office first served as the Fire Hall. The extant facilities are in need of major repairs and improvements to meet health and safety standards, as well as usage demands. Following the guidelines of the OCP, Council is exploring the results of the CCTF’s research, and is considering the costs for maintenance and repair of our existing facilities.

Current Progress

2009: The CCTF sent a questionnaire to all residents to initiate feedback on what was preferred in consideration of community facilities. The result of that questionnaire can be downloaded here.

2010: The CCTF then engaged the services of Professional Environmental Recreation Consultants Ltd. (PERC) to carry out public consultations to better understand what specific elements of a new facility would be important to residents. Two meetings were held to which all members of the Lions Bay public were invited. The first, on March 17, 2010, was attended by 55 residents, and was intended to reveal key issues and to determine needs. The second meeting took place on May 19, 2010, and was attended by 35 residents; this meeting provided a CCTF update to review progress, put forward possibilities of various community centre options, and presented a draft project utilizing both the Crosscreek Road site and the school facilities site.

The CCTF also received written and verbal input from various community members and stakeholder groups, all of which resulted in the report submitted by PERC in June, 2010, which can be downloaded. Council accepted and supported the findings of this report.

An important conclusion from this report was the confirmation that the current site of the Village municipal building and Village Hall would remain the location of these two public buildings. Concurrently, the CCTF established a strong relationship with West Vancouver School District No. 45, with a view to utilize the school site for parts of this project. In 2010, the Village applied for and was granted a grant to explore joint use of the school facilities; Council is currently working with the School District on this project (Mayor Broughton’s ‘Message for Council from the Mayor’).

With the PERC report in hand, the CCTF, with the direction of Council and funded by a planning grant, engaged the services of CEI Architecture Planning Interiors to help determine what was possible within the available Village building spaces, and what the eventual cost ranges for upgrading and/or rebuilding would be. A third public meeting in the Village Hall took place on November 13, 2010 and was facilitated by CEI; 38 residents attended, including 8 CCTF members and the 2 consultants from CEI. The findings of this process are contained in the final CEI report: New Lions Bay Community Centre: Programming, Pre-Design Planning & Preliminary Project Costing.

2011: Subsequent to the CEI final report, the CCTF was asked by Council to provide their recommendations for a “low end and a middle option” in order to have a broader range of total building cost options. The CCTF reported back to Council this spring.

The CCTF has now completed its mandate under the Terms of Reference and, going forward, will act as an advisory board; it will be referred to as the Municipal Hall and Community Centre Advisory Board.

Finances: The Village Council is aware of the sensitivity related to increase of property taxes. We anticipate obtaining matching funds on both the provincial and federal level. We are working toward optimizing a financing solution including land sales and fundraising, to minimize the overall tax implications for our residents.

Current Community Hall Requires Repair: The current Village Community Hall and municipal building are in need of costly repairs. Going forward, a budget will be established for proper maintenance protocols due to the heavy usage of these aged structures. Our Village Hall is also one of our two Emergency facilities in the case of an emergency.

Links to prior communications: