‘Fully disagree’: Vancouver community centres critical of mayor’s rec centre renewal

Ken Sim is promising a substantial investment for the city’s aging community centres, but some groups are questioning what centres he chose to prioritize.

Some Vancouver community centres are questioning Mayor Ken Sim’s decision to prioritize certain community centers, following a comprehensive report published four years ago.

Earlier this month, Sim announced details of his four-year capital plan, which would commit $400 million for large-scale renewal or the complete replacement of five community centres.

They include the Dunbar, Kerrisdale, Hastings, Roundhouse, and Kensington community centres.

On Wednesday, ABC Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung will table the capital plan motion.

In 2022, the Vancouver Park Board published the community centre strategy, which established a method for determining which community centres would be renewed.

The report identified 11 out of 27 centres as requiring renewal within the next 20 years.

The top five centres were Kensington, Renfrew, Hastings, Strathcona and Thunderbird, but Sim’s plan does not include three of the five in the 2022 report.

‘Fully disagree’

In a statement to CTV News, Anthony Mehnert, the president of the Renfrew Park Community Association, said the entire Renfrew board is disappointed with Sim’s proposed capital plan.

Mehnert added volunteers spent months working with park board staff on the community centre strategy report, and hoped council would make a decision based on the report and recommendations by staff.

“We fully disagree with the mayor and ABC’s proposed capital plan in relation to community centres and park board facilities,” he said.

Questions about timeline, cost

Jerry Fast, the chair of the Association President’s Group, which represents 19 community centre associations across Vancouver, said he was very concerned with how the five centres in the capital plan were chosen.

“We’re not following the major study that was done to resolve this issue about prioritizing renewal,” he said. “Instead we have a list that seems to come out of nowhere.”

Fast, who was involved in the park board study, said he’s apprehensive about the promise to deliver this plan in four years.

“Realistically, we think that doing two (community centres) in each capital cycle would make sense,” he said.

“And that’s what the strategy recommended. So, it would take us about 20 years to get through all of the centers that are needed for renewal.”

New staff report

ABC Coun. Lisa Dominato said this is only a portion of the overall capital plan, and that there’s a $500 million annual infrastructure deficit.

“The five community centers earmarked for $400 million are in very poor condition, but also see some of the highest usage in the city,” she said.

“And so really it’s based on that, looking at condition and usage.”

Dominato added the decision to choose these five centers stemmed from a staff report.

CTV News asked the mayor’s office for more details about the report, which it shared.

The report was published earlier this month and prepared by finance, risk, and supply chain management.

The report used a “Facility Condition Index” to measure a building’s health, which according to the mayor’s office, “is calculated by dividing a building’s deferred maintenance/repair costs by its current replacement value.”

In this report, staff identify Roundhouse, Kensington, Dunbar, Hastings, and Kerrisdale as being in some of the worst conditions in the city.

For example, Roundhouse has an FCI of 59.48 per cent, but the report does not identify Renfrew.

The mayor’s office added, “There was an additional desire to prioritize five facilities that could feasibly be delivered within a four-year window while still providing the greatest benefit to the public.”

The statement said this would be the first phase in a 10-year plan to replace all of Vancouver’s aging community centres.

One City Coun. Lucy Maloney questioned the latest report.

“We’ve had no public information about how that list was chosen, what the priorities are, how things were ranked in terms of choosing those,” she said.

“And I don’t think it’s helpful that that’s not clear, especially given where we are in an election year.”

The capital plan also includes a 25-metre pool at Sunset Park, public space improvements in Gastown, a renewal of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen pond, washroom upgrades at Kits and Second beaches, upgrades to Burrard View Park and improvements at the Beaconsfield Park turf field.