The debate over the proposed aquatic/curling facility with its $45 million price tag continues to heat up on both sides of the fence.
Former Cochrane mayor Truper McBride said while he believes administration has done an excellent job with the project planning so far, he believes a capital project of this scale is worthy of a public vote (plebiscite).
“For a project this scale, a plebiscite is not a bad idea,” said McBride in an interview with the Eagle, adding that he believes council would still remain successful at moving the project forward.
Barb Gibson has been involved with the sport of curling for 36 years.
She is a player, a skip and a youth coach. She has sat on the Cochrane Curling Club board of directors for 12 years and has been involved with the curling club project design since 2007.
“We (the Cochrane Curling Club) are not getting a $10M facility – this is a multi-use facility that can generate revenue 12 months of the year,” remarked Gibson.
The passionate curler is concerned that the focus has wrongfully centered on whether or not Cochrane needs a new curling rink — rather than the build of a multi-use facility with ample cost recovery.
According to Suzanne Gaida, senior manager of community services for the town, the pro forma done on cost recovery was based on current lease rates at the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre.
Gibson said the majority of club members have expressed their support of the project, which she feels would result in the growth of the sport of curling when it’s in ‘an environment of synergy’.
Gibson said the current facility is largely unusable six months of the year — without air conditioning, the facility can’t be rented in the summer months, leaving little room for cost recovery from a facility she said was designed to be ‘an ice shed’.
Coun. Morgan Nagel is the only councillor who voted against the aquatic/curling centre, based on the $45M ticket; Cochrane’s proximity to recreational facilities in Calgary (including the $119M facility slated to be open by 2017 in the northwest community of Rocky Ridge); the argument that ‘curling is a dying sport’; and that council needs to focus harder on prioritizing the traffic congestion problem in Cochrane first.
He is nearing 1,000 signatures on his informal, online petition at rocktheroads.ca.
Following the second public engagement session on the Cochrane Transportation Master Plan last week, Nagel said “it reinforced my original fear that we don’t have a solid plan in place (to address roads)”.
While Nagel would not be able to launch a legally binding plebiscite, according to the Municipal Government Act, council could choose to call a public vote if they felt there was enough community opposition to the project and use this to influence a decision to bring the project back to the drawing board.
Coun. Jeff Toews remains concerned that Cochranites aren’t getting enough of the facts and that people need to understand that moving forward with this capital project would not delay other projects on the 10-Year Financial Plan from moving forward — including the Bow River Bridge, which is slated to be operational by 2018.
McBride said in a letter addressed to local media that it’s not only a matter of council priorities, but ‘it’s symptomatic of this struggle Cochrane is enduring on whether to settle for a destiny of (being a) Calgary suburb or strive for complete community’.
