Community: Food bank a friend d to former Cliff Ave. campers. 3
Safety: RCMP, ICBC suggest plannning ride home. 11
S Sports: RCKC RC making ma ends end meet. me 30 Fr i d ay, D e ce m b e r 1 1, 2 015 ¡ mapleridgenews.com ¡ est. 1978 ¡ (office) 604-467-1122 ¡ (del ive r y) 6 0 4 - 4 6 6 - 6 3 9 7
City has plans for borrowing $110 million Would not affect budget; 3.3% increase for 2016 By Neil Corbett ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com
Borrowing $110 million so the city can build recreation facilities was the highlight of the city’s budget talks on Tuesday night. The city gave first and second readings to a budget that will hike taxes 3.33 per cent, and Paul Gill, the general manager of corporate and financial services, noted that is “the lowest increase we’ve experienced in quite some time.� Council will get more public feedback on the budget, and it will be given third and final readings in the new year. The proposed $110 million in borrowing will not impact the 2016 budget, Gill said. “When it comes to sports and recreation infrastructure, we are behind. We need significant investments.� Comments from councillors began that discussion, and they challenged staff to put together a strategy to fund new facilities. “In the conversations that we have had, in order to make a new pool happen, perhaps an arena, some sports fields, some theatre space and all of that kind of stuff, we’re likely looking at a number in excess of $100 million. So how do we make that happen?� The answer is to consider a borrowing strategy. “Especially given the way interest rates look today, and the announcement today that the federal government might be looking at negative interest rates,� said Gill. See Budget, 12
Tim Fitzgerald/THE NEWS
Tanya Baulne and her 23-month-old son Samuel Poole enjoy their Thursday ritual of swimming at the Maple Ridge Leisure Centre. Baulne was concerned about the pool closing for renovations, but wouldn’t be opposed to the city building a new facility.
Plans to close pool nixed Maple Ridge wants to build new one, or two By Neil Corbett ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com
Just days after hearing the Leisure Centre pool would have to close for a year, the contractor bidding on the renovations came up with a plan to keep part of it open for the duration. But Maple Ridge council decided Thursday to scrap those plans and is now considering patching up the leaking pool
until it can build a new one, or two. Monday, director of parks and facilities David Boag told council the pool would have to be closed for 12 months. His report still recommended that the $4.8 million contract Read for reconstruction of the pool and its mechanical and filtration systems be award to Mierau Contractors Lt. With contingencies, the project is budgeted for approximately $5.3
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million. Mayor Nicole Read and other council members said the need to close the city’s only aquatic centre for a year came as a shock, and was not acceptable. At a council meeting Tuesday, she read a prepared statement that said, in part: “I, and other members of council, have heard from the user groups of the facilities – the swim clubs and even the casual users, that the closure of the club
will create hardship for them,� she said. “A one-year closure may seem like a small period of time when measured against the 140-year history of the city, but one year is a long time in the life a 12-year-old who is trying to become an elite swimmer to get an athletic scholarship to university. One year in the life of a three-year-old who needs to learn how to swim while they are young is a very long time. “As the parent of two young boys, I know, first hand, that one year is a huge period of time.� See Pool, 4
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