Summerland, B.C., residents will now have the opportunity to vote on whether or not to borrow up to $50 million for a new pool at the Summerland Aquatic and Fitness Centre.
Last month, staff voted unanimously to move forward with a referendum as soon as this coming fall, despite some initial hesitation.
“There will be a referendum … it’s been published in council priorities all the way along that we had to go to a referendum,” said District of Summerland Chief Administrative Officer Graham Statt.
“Council had wanted to wait a little while longer just to see if we got one key grant that we were looking for, but it didn’t come through.”
According to city staff, the council decided to go ahead with the referendum, assuming that local taxpayers will bear the full cost.
However, if additional grants are rewarded later, the financial burden on local taxpayers will go down.
“We have really good estimates, including contingencies and cost escalation — we don’t have to borrow all of the money if we get additional grants. One grant we’re waiting on right now is the Green Inclusive Community Buildings Grant, in the amount of $25 million. So if we’re successful on that, it would be half of the entire cost,” said Statt.
“Our mayor in fact is in Ottawa for other meetings and is also taking the opportunity to lobby the federal government on this issue, just making sure they understand the importance of this grant to the community. I think it’s always best to err on the side of caution, and then hopefully it comes in even less.”
Summerland staff say the current facility, built in 1976, is way past its useful life and would need significant investment to fix or it would eventually be decommissioned.
“We have the existing facility that now has become very antiquated, needs a lot of work, millions and millions of dollars,” said Statt.
“We’ve got roof leaks, there’s leaking a strange tar-like substance onto the pool deck and into the pool, termite infestations. We have really old infrastructure in obviously the basement and things like pipes, air circulation, and HVAC. It also uses 80 per cent more energy than other pools of its size that are more modernized.”
District staff have now begun the lengthy process of preparing for the referendum.
“Some of which is on us and some of which is on our senior government, which is the province. We have to prepare a borrowing bylaw and a question that we wish to ask,” said Statt.
“That all has to be approved by the municipal inspector, which is with the province and then once they approve that, then we have only 80 days to hold the referendum.”
Although staff cannot pick an exact date at this time, they are aiming to hold the referendum in November.
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