Community Centre Renewal ~ Update

The Community Centre Task Force, Chaired by Pieter Dorsman, ensured that there was extensive community consultation regarding the Community Centre Project, for residents of the Village of Lions Bay. In the Fall 2009, there was a Community Centre Questionnaire, the consultation leading up to the 2010 PERC Report occurred with the CEI Report following with community programming and costing. Each report involved broad-based community member consultation regarding recreation, cultural, childcare, seniors, library, education, administrative and governance spaces. These consultation exercises had consistent findings, with the community wanting three additional multi-purpose spaces in order that people from all ages can be engaged in a variety of activities within the Community Facility at the same time ~ whether for Tae Kwon Do, Yoga, a seminar, an author presenting their work, a theatre performance, volleyball, the library, tutoring, music classes, art classes for little ones to seasoned citizens…it could all work…within a kinesthetic and dynamic environment reflecting the values and beauty of the community.

The Community Centre Task Force passed on the decision making responsibility in the Spring 2011 and in the Fall 2011, Council, after much review decided to ‘renew’ and ‘renovate’ the existing building, as an affordable option, as the building required a new roof and seismic strengthening as well as increased accessibility for people with mobility challenges in our entries and washrooms.

Whether a community member is actively using the Municipal Hall or not, it is a community asset that requires upgrading. Phase l, the Recreation Centre portion of the Municipal Hall, was originally envisioned by this Council as the focus of construction and change. As Council has become more informed regarding the need for repair and upgrades to the administrative portion of the building, we asked the Architect whether there would be some cost saving efficiencies to do both Phase l and Phase ll at the same time. Council then requested a Phase ll vision. The Phase ll design has allowed an overall incorporation of design goals to be achieved that the community members had outlined in the reports in paragraph one of this article.

The northern municipal end of the building has evolved through many uses over a number of years, beginning as our Fire Department. The roof is also very old and the mansard roof is decaying. It is time for Lions Bay to move forward, as the communities around us have done, both to the north and south.

Phase l:
On March 30th, 2012, our MLA Joan McIntyre, presented the Village of Lions Bay with a Province of British Columbia Community Recreation Grant in the amount of $440,343. This grant is being combined with $200,000 from Reserves that was in the 2011 budget for roof replacement. These combine to fund Phase l of the Community Centre Renewal. A Borrowing Bylaw is a requirement to borrow from Reserves, unless the project is to do with Water. Borrowing Bylaw 2012, Bylaw No. 449 passed the first two Readings at the June 4th meeting of Council. The borrowing for Phase l will be repaid over a maximum of 5 years from surpluses, rather than the 20 years proposed in the 2012 Five Year Plan.

The Architect, Russ Meikljohn of Millenia Architecture Corp presented the design for Phase l and the preliminary design for Phase ll, recently at the Art in the Garden day in the Village Hall, on Saturday, May 26th.  Russ, previously presented the Phase l design plan for review by the Community Centre Stakeholders and Task Force Members, on Monday, April 16th and Tuesday, May 8th, and on Saturday, April 21st, for Village residents as a whole. In each session, the participants were invited to record and submit their ideas, in addition to reporting them to participants. Russ, also presented to the Oversight Committee on May 28th for both Phase l and Phase ll with residents Eric Gerlach, Edward Langford and Marek Sredski, along with Councillor Ron McLaughlin and the Mayor.

All these ideas have been made into a listing and have been presented to the Architect and Council for review. This information can be found posted on the Lions Bay website at www.lionsbay.ca .

The Architect, has been coordinating the Structural, Mechanical, and Electrical Information and consulting reports, along with retaining a

Code Consultant, for the Phase l and Phase ll interface. He has also very creatively incorporated the many ideas from residents, into a comprehensive overall design of Phase l and Phase ll, bringing the Municipal Hall together as one integrated vibrant building design for community use.

David Shore, has come forward as the Fund Raising Chair, and is developing a website. Pieter Dorsman, will continue to Chair Donor Fund Raising.

Phase ll:
Phase ll of the project takes full advantage of the opportunity to create a vibrant efficient integrated  facility that Village residents can be proud of as a part of the Municipal Campus of 2 buildings. Council is recommending to the Community that we proceed at this time with Phase ll, as the Village will obtain construction cost and design efficiencies and design optimization, in completing the building as a whole, by constructing both Phase l and Phase ll, concurrently. Phase ll is the northern administrative end of the building. A second level would be added with stairs and an elevator connecting the building through the current Chambers space and creating the third multi-purpose room, which would be a ‘Chamber’ in which meetings of Council, Community Committees, Seminars, Art Exhibitions, Recitals, Readings, Business meetings can occur, with the mission statement for this room being something like, “Centre for Community Learning and Exploration, Expansiveness, Connectiveness and Governance.” [author, Dr. Michael Broughton].

Phase ll will require borrowing through the MFA – Municipal Finance Authority. Council has passed the first two readings of Loan Authorization Bylaw 2012, Bylaw No. 450 authorizing the Village of Lions Bay to borrow $700,000 from MFA, to be repaid over 20 Years. The annual payment for Phase ll borrowing of $700,000 at the MFA current borrowing rate of 3.4% is $48,286 annually [ which equals $4,024 per month ]. Council’s goal is to not require this full funding, but use these funds for other capital projects.

The MFA, has two lending periods per year, in the Fall and Spring. There are guidelines to follow that include community input following the 3rd Reading of the Bylaw, providing community members an opportunity to express their opposition. Notification will go out to the community.

This is an important project for Lions Bay. Current low interests rates can be secured for a ten year period, during a time with relatively low building costs. Council supports Phase ll moving ahead, and wishes to accomplish the annual loan payment of $48,286 through efficiencies using the surpluses noted in the Five Year Plan, which will more than cover this cost. Additionally, fund raising and donor contributions will be sought with a program of naming and thanking for all contributions ~ thus this is an exciting time when everyone can make a difference and become involved with both large and small contributions…all highly valued.

While the Municipal Hall is an old building, it is worthy of renewal. The Architectural Design is exciting and will fit into this location as a Lions Bay centre piece that can iconically and pridefully represent our beautiful Village. Our Architect specializes in ‘iconic’ building renovation, and is a highly skilled Architect responsible for such significant projects as the Student Centre at Simon Fraser University.

Thank you for your consideration as we move forward ~ together. Enjoy your summer !

*From Lionsbay.net Admin - We have created a photo gallery for the Community Centre Renewal Project. We will continue to update the gallery with photos as we receive them. Check back often!

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LB homeowner
written by Vaike O'Dwyer , June 13, 2012

4 questions: (1)re:esthetic & cost of the west side split roof, overhanging the plaza. If you need to keep the elevation/angle of the upper split roof for the extended plaza overhang, why not reduce the angle of the entire gym & office roofs on the west side or for that matter on both sides & skip the split or scissor. Esthetically, the split looks like an after thought & I'm sure it increases the cost ... I do, however, like the innovative angled posts, & wonder if the post under the new south 2nd fl multipurpose room should also be angled to match the others? (2) The attic storage room on the 3rd floor (pg 5), does it run the length of the building; could it be used for another purpose down the road (weight room, or other)as its height alone supersedes the ht of both floors below? (3) The artist rendering of the new south 1st fl multipurpose room does not match the floor plan - the elevation shows a window the floor plan does not which is correct? (4) I cannot tell from these drawing if the new gym is set on the same foundations as the old? Our current gym barely fits a volleyball net side to side & has no depth beyond the court itself, I was hoping the new gym would be larger to enable a more competitive game? Thanks, the designs inside & out do look great - a HUGE improvement!

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