The Regional District of Central Kootenay is giving residents of Areas I, J and Castlegar a second chance to respond to a survey regarding potential upgrades to the Castlegar and District Community Complex.
Letters were mailed out in December with a one-time access code to participate in an online survey and more than 500 households completed the survey.
“We heard that some people didn’t receive their survey invitation, or that their invitation might have been lost in all the holiday mail,” said Lawrence Chernoff, Castlegar mayor and Chair of the Castlegar & District Recreation Commission. “It’s important that everyone has the opportunity to have their say, so we are opening a second survey window. We thank those residents who have already responded to the survey.”
Residents that did not fill out the first survey will receive a second invitation and new access code in the mail this week.
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The access code can only be used once so residents are asked to fill out the survey — which should take about five minutes — in one sitting. The closing date for the survey is Jan. 19.
The survey can be accessed through myactivityhub.ca. Detailed information about the proposal is available on the site.
“At this critical stage, every opportunity for community input is essential,” said Jim Crockett, manager of recreation for the Castlegar & District Community Complex.
He also explained that sending out a reminder is a typical process in public mail out survey opportunities.
“It’s a big decision and a big price, so the more times we can connect with the community, the better,” added Crockett. “The Recreation Commission wants to make sure we are not headed in a direction the community doesn’t support.”
Developing plans for future enhancements to the Complex has been a long process started with the development of a recreation master plan in the fall of 2014. Public input about the plan was sought in 2015 and the plan was adopted by the RDCK in early 2016.
Seven different options for improvements were developed and presented to the public in May 2017. A several-phase public input period has been taking place since then.
One option has now been singled out as the most popular. The latest survey asks residents whether or not they would support Option B enhancements to the Complex in a referendum.
Option B includes necessary improvements to arena storage and change rooms, a social hub/lobby and office expansion, a fitness area expansion, a new leisure pool, a second sheet of ice at the Complex, plus team rooms and a lobby extension.
The estimated cost of the project is $32.3 million.