The number of proposals still in the running for the $750,000 sports legacy fund dropped from 14 to seven after a District of Squamish Committee of the Whole on Tuesday (Jan. 25).
After the last Legacy Funds discussion on Nov. 30, executive assistant Kate O'Connell and deputy clerk Charlene Pawluk went back and asked each of the remaining proponents for additional information: confirmation of estimated costs, ongoing costs and membership/program fees.
Mayor Greg Gardner started the discussion by asking council members to consider the amount of maintenance some of the bigger projects would need after the initial construction.
"We have a series of projects and some of them are quite unique and distinct - some of them are larger projects," Gardner said. "For these major projects we would need a lot more preliminary work done and about who's going to pay to maintain these things."
Although it was addressed before the meeting, Gardner suggested more detailed projections. For example, the Squamish Soccer Association, which is proposing the Brennan Park Multipurpose Area project, estimated annual maintenance fees at roughly $20,000, which would be covered by proceeds from the group's annual Soccerfest.
However, proponents admitted this was not a concrete number and that they hadn't discussed it with the turfing company.
Before elimination began, Coun. Patricia Heintzman made it clear she wanted to keep some projects on council's radar.
"There's a lot of things in here that we've thought about in terms of our bigger recreational master plan," she said. "Once we determine where the money is going to go, I would like to see a process where we evaluate some of these items further beyond this process - for example, a community gym."
Gardner agreed and acknowledged the effort put into the proposals.
"A lot of good work has gone into these projects, so even if they don't get this funding, let's utilize it to move forward on some planning," he said.
Coun. Doug Race didn't hesitate to discuss more criteria before laying his motion on the table.
"I'm going to move ahead and propose a motion to drop two of them," he said.
"First is the bikes and tikes gym and second is the world-class motorcross and ATV park.
"The reason for that is that both of these, while worthwhile individually, are private companies and so the funding would be in effect subsidizing them. To me that distinguishes them from all the others."
When asked, O'Connell said Race's comment was accurate but that the motorcross proponents had planned to start a non-profit group.
"This wasn't to make profit - all the money that was raised through the membership and the daily usage fees would go back into the maintenance of the park," she said. "But as it is right now there isn't a registered non-profit in Squamish, though from my conversations that was the direction they were going."
Gardner said that even after hearing that change, he thought there were higher priorities on the list and Race's motion was carried unanimously.
Two down, 12 to go.
The significance of suggesting council axe proposals into which groups had put a lot of hard work was not lost on council members.
"Carry on being the bad guy," said Gardner to Race.
Race had three other proposals he wished to eliminate. The first was surface improvements to the windsurfing spit.
"We recently applied significant district monies to that and we are about to apply even more significant monies to that sport by creating a windsurfing spit on the Oceanfront," he said.
The second was the outdoor gym downtown - the district just installed one at Brennan Park. The third was the heating/refrigeration unit for the curling club. Race said that "it didn't seem consistent with the spirit of what these monies are for."
Heintzman seconded all three motions.
"Further to the curling one, I see upgrading or replacing an old refrigeration system as a maintenance issue. We should be planning for that replacement - it's not a legacy," she said.
Coun. Paul Lalli also supported Race's reasoning.
"I want my kids to be able to go somewhere and be reminded that this is a legacy facility or project," he said.
He said the money from VANOC was given for a legacy type of project.
Gardner said Squamish received the money to build a legacy, not something like the highway, that is "distinctly ours."
The motion to drop all three proposals was carried unanimously.
After admitting his bias toward the multipurpose turf area, Lalli moved to remove the completion of Hendrickson Fields lighting from the list and Lonsdale seconded it.
"We've already put a significant investment into improving the slow-pitch fields," he said. "That infrastructure is up and running."
Gardner supported Lalli.
"In term of number of users in the community, for a project this size, I would have to think the soccer field project would take priority," Gardner said. "And that's coming from someone who loves baseball."
Lonsdale said one of the reasons she was hesitant to support the proposal was because "every time we make more fields available for slow pitch, we have trouble finding volunteers."
"At this point I'd kind of like to wait a while and get that volunteer proponent back up with the kids before we start building more for the adults."
The motion was carried unanimously.
Lalli made a motion to eliminate the last proposal of the day - the public weight room and fitness facility, saying it would require a considerable amount of money to expand Brennan Park and there was no space. He suggested it be a longer-term project to be incorporated into the Brennan Park renovation concept.
"I think there is more of a longer-term project and I think there are some other projects that warrant those legacy funds," he said.
Heintzman was particularly opposed to removing the proposal. She said programs in Brennan Park could be moved to the forestry building soon after the leases expire, leaving room for a small fitness room at Brennan Park.
She said it would be ideal for parents to get some exercise while their kids are in swimming or skating lessons.
"If we could actually make this work, it could be a revenue source and everyone in the community could use it," Heintzman said.
The motion was carried, with Heintzman and Raiser opposed.
Heintzman's motion to remove the advanced sailing training boats failed with Race, Lalli and Gardner opposed.
Race's motion to support 50 per cent of the advanced sail training, the Diamond Head Trail construction, the paddling clubhouse and the BMX park was met with resistance.
Most councillors said they weren't prepared to start handing out money and that more issues had to be resolved - tenure issues, regional district complications, and whether the BMX park should get more than 50 per cent.
The motion failed, with only Race in support.
Two items brought under particular fire were the paddling club expansion and the Diamond Head trial.
Council members wanted to make sure the paddling club had tenure on the area; a letter from landowner Coast Aggregates was dated 2009.
The Diamond Head trail was a contentious issue that staff will need to discuss with VANOC because it's unclear whether the legacy money can go toward projects outside the municipality.
Gardner said "once we got to a shortlist or even a shorter list, it would be prudent to have a discussion with VANOC anyways."
Council decided to have staff come back with the requested information over the next few weeks and continue the legacy funds discussion as soon as possible.
