While there has been some back-and-forth this week about where the decided splash pad will go—a $52,500 capital project earmarked by City Council in the budget for 2018—one thing is for certain: council wants a splash pad, and they’re open to talking about where it goes.
The old adage for real estate is location! Location! Location! And that's a sticking point that could scuttle the project.
Chuck Verge, president of the North Bay Rotary Club, a driving force behind fundraising for the community project, told members of council Tuesday night that the local service clubs wanted the splash-pad-to-be behind the Discovery North Bay Museum and not by the waterfront—something he and his fellow committee members made very clear.
“Our preference would be to follow the recommendations of the consultation team who consulted extensively with the public, preparing the Downtown Waterfront Master Plan earlier this year,” Verge said. “We’ll be seeking funds from both levels of government and we have an ambitious plan in the works. We would request council indicates its support for the splash pad tonight.”
However, the Downtown Waterfront Advisory Committee would rather have the ambitious project along Marathon Beach, where some infrastructures like washrooms and change rooms exist.
See: City backs off! Splash pad committee: 'We want it next to the lake' (Also take our poll)
Coun. Mac Bain asked Verge for reasons they didn’t want the splash pad to be built on the beach and Verge and his team replied that one of the major factors was the sand and the heavy toll it would have on maintaining the recreational space.
With debate around the area continuing, Coun. Derek Shogren asked Verge if it would be at least helpful to the committee if the project was approved Tuesday night—with the location to be determined later—to give the Rotary members time and opportunity to lobby higher levels of government for more funds, to which Verge said yes.
“This project has been on the planning agenda for the three Rotary clubs since 2007 and the desire is to provide a legacy for the community and a catalyst for the development in the downtown/waterfront area,” Verge said about the approximately $640,000 splash pad vision.
After the meeting, Verge and his committee made it very clear that if council wanted to pursue a location that was not behind Discovery North Bay—or within close proximity to the museum—they would not support the project.
But committee member Jay Aspin defends the group's opinion.
"Just for the record - Myself and the majority of the appointed public members of the Downtown Waterfront Advisory Committee truly appreciate the Rotary Club for their initiative with regard to this project. Unfortunately, in our humble opinion, we think they have been misguided by City Hall administration with regard to location. We advocate a logical location close to the beach. This is obviously what the majority of residents of our city want (75% according to Baytoday poll of 458 people) It would provide a great complement to the children's section of the beach (as Callander) and eliminate a situation where the provision of change rooms/washrooms and other ancillary services would more than double the cost of the overall project..It would be located at a place where people GO TO SWIM making it a logical enhancement to what is there. We are also concerned about the huge impact of the museum location on the cost. The taxpayer may be exposed to a huge project with extra ancillary costs which may render the eventual facility a "white elephant due" to its erroneous location. Sadly the residents of the city would be responsible picking up the tab. And as for the comment regarding the consultant recommendations...they produced a wish list of over $26 million they would love to talk the city into ....a recipe for spend, spend, spend. Not impressed with their lack of practicality at all."
