Bowen council held a special meeting on Wednesday, April 11, to receive re-ordered recommendations from the Bowen Community Centre Action Committee (BCCAC). The committee was formed in 2009 and has been studying the building of a community centre.
BCCAC chair Shari Ulrich and two committee members, Paul Hooson and Tina Nielsen, were there along with Christine Walker, the BIM staff liaison for the committee, and consulting project manager, Florrie Levine.
In a meeting that marked the official swan song for Ulrich and her committee, council, with input from committee members, debated how to move the project forward. The job BCCAC has done was praised by mayor Jack Adelaar and councillors, with Cro Lucas, council liaison to the committee, saying BCCAC has done a great service to the island.
In a talk following the meeting, Ulrich said that she enjoyed her time with the committee and feels confident they have done work that can, with the political will behind it, turn a long-held island dream into a tangible, badly needed community centre.
"Working on this committee has been inspiring," she said. "Watching our project manager methodically analyze a mountain of information, statistics, past reports, and figures and distill it down into a plan that is fact based and real has been remarkable. It's been a very efficient, practical and passionate group of people and I have tremendous respect for each of them.
"I know it's hard for council members - of any council - to totally trust information that they didn't generate, but I know how solid our report and recommendations are and I think there's hope that the council will be able to take the leap of faith necessary to make this dream a reality."
The BCCAC's final report was tabled February 16 and recommended option B2 for the center, an option that would include a 14,333 square foot community centre and a municipal hall component that would be 4,570 square feet, making the 18,903 square foot building larger option A, smaller than option C.
Option B2 includes a multi-use exhibition space, an activity space, a community weight room, washrooms, an office suite and storage areas. A multi-use concession kitchen was recommended alongside that plan. The estimated cost is between 11 and 12 million dollars, though, as Ulrich points out, savings would come by combining the centre with the municipal hall.
She also says that the entire cost would not be borne by the Bowen taxpayer alone. "It's easy to look at the price tag and scope and say: whoa - we can't afford that - it's too big!" she said. "But in fact, the cost to the municipality is a fraction of the price tag. It's just that council and BIM have to step up to the plate to support it before other funders will."
The meeting of April 11 was not intended to delegate funds and set a date to start building the centre on the lands at the junction of Miller Road and Government Road, it's still too early for that, but the project was moved along by council.
Council passed a resolution to adopt option B with a municipal hall component as the initial concept for the community centre project and asked staff to prepare an outline. That outline will be debated at the next council meeting on April 23 where, among other things, council will seek the best method of determining how much of their tax dollars islanders are willing to spend.
Ulrich feels that Bowen is willing to do what's necessary to get their community centre and says the important thing is for council to keep the ball rolling.
"It requires taking one step at a time with the faith that determination and smart planning and decisions will get us to our goal," she said. "Council is feeling the pressure of making good decisions and has a bit of fear of failure in play. That's totally to be expected, though it can be somewhat crippling for decision making. This is one of those initiatives that requires a bit of a leap of faith that we can make it happen.
"I don't think that's fiscally irresponsible - I think that's believing something is important enough to push through and make sure that it doesn't fail."
