Castlegar residents will soon have an opportunity to share their opinions about what, if any, improvements should be made to the Castlegar & District Community Complex.
The Castlegar and District Recreation Commission (CDRC) is planning public input sessions this spring to hear what the community has to say after they look over options to improve and expand the complex in the near future.
“We want to hear what the community wants,” said Jim Crockett, manager of recreation for the Castlegar & District Community Complex. “We want to notify the public and user groups that this is coming. We understand that this may be fairly big and somewhat controversial.”
CDRC is a regional partnership between the city of Castlegar and Regional District of Central Kootenay Areas I and J. Representatives from all three groups sit on the commission.
The CDRC has been working on improvement plans for quite some time. In 2015 they began working on a master plan for the complex which would be a guide for future improvement decisions. A consulting firm was hired to do research and put together a report. Public input was sought and almost 800 area residents and 17 community groups responded to questionnaires. Eleven stakeholder consultations were also held.
According to an RDCK press release, “The community directed that the RDCK should proceed with enhancements and expansion at the Castlegar & District Community Complex.”
The result was a Master Plan that included multiple options for improvements. A draft version was presented to the public in December 2015 for further input and a final version was adopted in January 2016.
Based on the feedback received at the time, the top five indoor priorities were listed as a walking/running track, fitness/wellness facilities (exercise/weight room), indoor field facilities, gymnasium spaces and ice arena facilities. The top four outdoor priorities were a walking trail system, interpretive trails, picnic areas and amphitheatres/event spaces.
The CDRC has re-engaged the same consulting firm that did the initial report to help with the planning process and an architectural firm has also been hired.
The last time expansions to the complex where on the table was in 2010. A referendum put forward to voters regarding a $25 million expansion was soundly defeated with an almost 80 per cent “no” vote.
The CDRC believes they have learned from the mistakes of the past.
“We are trying to learn from those mistakes,” said Crockett. “One of the big ones was that this community input piece was not done as well as it could have been.”
“The support seemed to be there, but when the dollar signs came out, people were not prepared for that,” he explained. “Part of the problem was that the discussion [about why it was such a big project] really didn’t happen before the referendum, it happened during the referendum and that was too late.”
Last time the commission looked at improvements, a decision was made to lump all of the projects together into one package. The decision was influenced by several factors including historically low interest rates.
“There was a bunch of reasons why it made sense to pile them all together,” said Crockett, “but the community didn’t come up with that conclusion themselves.”
This time the public will be presented with around five options and then asked for input on which option or combinations of options they prefer. That data will then be examined and then the CDRC will come back to the public once more with the final project options.
Looking at funding options is also part of the process. If the projects chosen are large projects, it is likely that a tax increase will be necessary and the project will have to go to a referendum.
“If the discussion and the input is that the community is not ready for anything — then so be it,” concluded Crockett. “But if it wants to see something — that is what this whole process is about.”