As promised, following is my best recollection of the Council discussions around “the Project”.
During the past 2 1/2 years your Council has been giving consideration to a recommendation from the North Vancouver Recreation Commission that a new pool and recreation centre be built to replace the aging and somewhat structurally challenged William Griffin complex. This recommendation from NVREC was largely driven by a very loud public outcry that arose on the rumour that the William Griffin Centre would be re-configured and that re-configuration would not include a new pool
This rumour also arose somewhat as a result of the PERC report that suggested a rationalization of existing Pool capacity between Harry Jerome and William Griffin and the suggested relocation of a new Recreation facility to another un-determined location somewhat closer to population centre of Upper Capilano/Delbrook. Such location was suggested to be in the Upper Capilano corridor as opposed to the Queens Ave. location.
In any event, the District of North Vancouver, as the Owners of the existing facility, and the ultimate developer/builder of a replacement facility considered the recommendation of RECCOM and, somewhat in response to the 3000 name petition supporting retention of the William Griffin pool, commissioned a team of consultants to develop some concepts around what a new consolidated Griffin/Delbrook facility might look like.
3 concepts were presented. All of which were predicated on the consolidation of two facilities. Council considered 3 locations for the now conceptual centre:
- Consolidation on the Delbrook School site which would permit the important continuing operation of the Griffin Pool while construction carried on
- Construction of a completely new facility on the southern-most field and Tennis Courts of Delbrook Park which also had the advantage of allowing Griffin to remain open and available but which would cause the loss of at least 1 and possibly 2 much used, well-located playing fields and also would present some access challenges.
- Demolition of William Griffin , construction of a new consolidated facility and the ultimate demolition of the Delbrook facility. While the loss of Griffin pool during construction would be a negative it was felt that the site would more ideally lend itself to the development of a new facility and at the same time would allow the maximum potential equity transfer from the Delbrook School site to assist in the financing of the new William Griffin facility.
Council then digested the concepts presented and instructed the Consultants to go away and come back with some more detailed financial scenarios applicable to each of the 3 concepts. Some months later the Consultants came back to Council and presented their findings.
And now, because the concepts had evolved sufficiently and in greater detail the financial ramifications became more apparent. The estimate of costs had risen close to $50 million to incorporate all of the suggested uses and space needs.
Following on this presentation, Council decided that Option 3 would likely be the best of the three, all things considered.
It became apparent to Council that this figure was likely going to be a very hard sell to the public already under ever-increasing tax, utility and Regional cost pressures. It was then suggested that the funds from the potential sale, or equity transfer, of the Delbrook School site might be used to “offset” the capital cost of the new facility.
And now because the potential sale of District land was being considered, the Council meetings became more formal in nature and had to go “In-Camera”. Council then instructed the Consultant team to go away again and come back with some conceptual plans and estimated costs around developing the School site as a mixed-use, multi-faceted medium densityresidential development. Council received some indications as to what the potential “market value” might be of the site at this time.
Council was satisfied that the concept of funding the construction of the new William Griffin site by realizing on the equity of the Delbrook site had some merit and would ultimately be worth taking to the public in order to hear its views on the matter.
The District has basically two options available to it to finance the construction of the new William Griffin facility that up until now has been deemed necessary based on initial, albeit ill-informed, community input to the RECCOM as well as District Council. We can borrow 100% of the cost estimated at approximately $50 and likely to grow all of which would go directly on the Tax bill or, we can use the equity in the Delbrook School site to substantially mitigate the ultimate cost to the Taxpayer.
The only other steps authorized by Council to date is to have a thorough analysis of the programming needs and a space needs assessment performed. This process is now underway with RECCOM staff, Vancouver Coastal Health and all other stakeholders and potential user groups being consulted.
Only after this stage will the Architectural and Engineering consultants be able to finalize a potential design of a new WG and most importantly forecast the ultimate cost with greater accuracy.
Perhaps concurrently, a team will give consideration to the type and style of development of the Delbrook School site from differing perspectives such as optimum equity realization; environmental and societal impacts; traffic impacts, etc. etc.
Armed with that information the public can then be reliably informed as to all the implications and ramifications around the ultimate decision as to how to proceed.
So that is where we are today! No firm decisions taken, no “faites-accomplis”; no decisions as to whether to sell or lease any land; no decisions on when this whole thing will actually happen; and most importantly perhaps, no decision yet on the design and implementation of the very thorough, transparent public process that the DNV will embark on in order to offer the most comprehensive information to all stakeholder and citizen groups to allow informed debate and discussion around the complex issues entailed in this project.
The District, through the very rigorous community engagement processes that led to the successful adoption of your Official Community Plan, has learned there are no shortcuts in gaining the trust and support of the wider community. The District has also learned that there will always be some who remain dissatisfied with any given outcome. It is simply impossible to please everybody all the time.
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