CITY of North Vancouver councillors are still at loggerheads over how to renew the Harry Jerome recreation centre after a long-serving North Vancouver recreation commissioner came to urge them to get a move on.
Wayne Robertson has served seven years on the commission, including a term as chairman. On Monday night, he reminded council of the various studies he had seen during that time.
"In 2005 the city received a report from Coriolis Consulting Group which concluded, following a detailed facility assessment of all components of Harry Jerome, that the aging condition of the buildings was such that a complete replacement was more cost-effective than a renovation," he said. "At the same time a rough estimate was provided which included what everybody wanted. It was costly precisely because it contained what everyone wanted, everyone's wish list."
The following year, Robertson said, the commission engaged another consultant, Brian Johnston's firm PERC, to boil that wish list down to genuine needs. Johnston came up with five answers - more fitness, more indoor aquatics, more dry floor space, more gymnasium space and more performing arts space.
"There was plenty of public input in that process," said Robertson. "Three open houses, facility displays, stakeholder briefings, a website, newspaper comments and we received a number of delegations from citizens talking about their desires for recreation."
The PERC report, noted Johnston, did not include provision for a 50-metre pool, lawn bowling, or Flicka gymnastics.
Various groups lobbying the city have since argued for all of these components and some have come away with supportive council resolutions.
Council also added an ice sheet and Silver Harbour seniors' centre to the equation while passing the performance space question to The Arts Office.
"There are some issues around this facility," continued Robertson. "Consultation? There's been plenty. Cost? In concentrating on needs rather than wants, in my submission to you, costs are contained. If you add wants to the list of things you're going to put in a facility like this, costs will go up."
Robertson said the operating costs of a new building would be about half those of a renovated one.
"As the election looms and a new council begins its work, I hope that you will help to realize the dreams of the people of this city and allow them to have the centerpiece facility, based on needs not
wants, they deserve."
Coun. Rod Clark said the various consultants had missed a key issue. "That was to consult the people in the local area," he said. "When they came before us with a petition saying they wanted to retain the parks that are in the neighbourhood and are used very widely . . . I couldn't turn my back on that. I don't make any apology for that. I will stand up for greenspace and parks whenever possible.
"We don't have all the facts yet. We should have them in early 2012. . . . Quite simply, I won't be bullied."
Coun Guy Heywood, who has repeatedly expressed his frustration with council's decision to take Norseman Field, Mickey McDougall Park and the lawn bowling club's greens off the table, reminded his colleagues that the existing Harry Jerome buildings are "decrepit" and in some cases, packed with asbestos.
"This council has on the books a direction to look at renovation, which is just simply wrong. We need a refreshed mandate that looks at building a new Harry Jerome on one of the adjacent sites and it may involve Norseman Field or relocating the lawn bowling greens," he said. Consolidating the buildings and moving the parking underground, Heywood argued, would eventually allow for more greenspace than currently exists.
"How could that be bad?" he said.
Heywood said the city had a "rational process" underway that was "stopped short."
"We decided to turn to the protection of focused interest groups rather than looking at the interests of the community as a whole. That is an issue in this election."
Coun. Craig Keating has repeatedly pressed council and staff to examine renovation options for Harry Jerome and to look into whether city resources are better spent on upgrading outdoor recreation infrastructure.
"The fundamental dividing point in this term of council is how this was to be funded, how this was to be phased in," Keating said. "Would it happen all at once? Would it happen because of development revenues gained at that site? At one point we were talking about 800,000 square feet of housing being created in that area to fund it. That has enormous impacts on the community."
"To me," said Coun. Bob Fearnley, "it isn't clear that all members of council want to do something here."
Fearnley said the city had sufficient information to proceed and said he was frustrated with the numerous delays. He challenged his colleagues to make an election pledge to cut a ribbon for a new Harry Jerome within the next term of council. He said a major failure and the closure of the current buildings is inevitable.
"I hope that the good citizens of the city come to this council chamber with pitchforks and torches and demand some answers," he said.
