Gaetan's answers Port Moody Soccer Club Candidate Survey.
1. IN YOUR LIST OF CAPITAL PROJECT PRIORITIES FOR PORT MOODY, WHERE DOES THE REDEVELOPMENT OF INLET ATHLETIC PARK RANK?
Rejuvenation of Inlet Park was a high priority years ago. As Mayor, I would propose it to Council as the top priority capital project with design and implementation to commence in 2015.
2. WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO REVISIT THE PROJECT APPROVED ON MAY 8, 2012 AND LOOK AT ENHANCING SOME OF THE FUTURE DEVELPMENTS IDENTIFIED AS BEING REQUIRED? *
Absolutely. The new Council should revisit specific needs overlooked in 2012. The practical next steps are to do a review of our population growth and needs, reconsider the three options from the R. F. Binnie study, include a modern field house in the project’s scope of work and update the cost estimate for design and construction. This review can be done quickly and it should be completed before the capital budget is finalized. Funds should be allocated in the 2015 budget year for detailed engineering design. In my experience, for a project of this magnitude to be expedited, an experienced project manager would need to be appointed early 2015.
If our population is to grow by 15,000 more people as proposed in the plan endorsed by the outgoing Council (an unsustainable plan which I totally disagree with), our community would be grossly underserved, ending up with a deep shortage of sports fields. This was demonstrated in a recent Parks & Recreation Master Plan presentation where the city was told that to accommodate 15,000 more people, we would need an additional 106 acres of active recreation space.
Acquiring that much land would require the city to budget $100+ million (using a highly conservative rate of $1 million per acre). If such a huge sum was to come from developer contributions, the bonus density required to offset these contributions would push the population even higher.
What we need is leadership that connects the dots between growth, recreation, parks, jobs and infrastructure. I offer a better plan.
3. WHAT TYPE OF FUNDING MODEL AND TIMELINE WOULD YOU SUPPORT FOR THIS PROJECT?
TIMELINE. Based on question 2 above, I assume that the Port Moody Soccer Club wants to revisit the very limited scope of the project approved on May 8, 2012 and re-consider the recommendations from the R. F. Binnie study. Soccer parents and the Port Moody Soccer Club paid for this feasibility study and we need to act on it.
We need to finalize the detailed engineering design in 2015. With a dedicated project manager, close working relationship with community groups and strong leadership on Council, we will start construction in 2016.
FUNDING MODEL. When we doubled the size of the Recreation Centre, we used a funding model that included 8 funding sources: federal/provincial grants, capital reserves, borrowing, developer levies (pre-identified in the city’s plan), user fees, donations, lease revenue and taxation. Working with the Soccer Club, we need to formulate a business plan that leverages as many funding sources as possible.
4. WHAT SUPPORT COULD YOU PROVIDE IN HELPING TO MOVE THIS PROJECT FORWARD?
I played a leadership role in major fund raising initiatives for: Crossroads Hospice (I was President of the Crossroads Hospice Society; we reached our $2.3M target); Port Moody’s Olympic Ice Arena (I was City Manager when we exceeded our $1M target); Mossom Creek Hatchery (I volunteered to design the building that’s under construction and personally recruited several donors to help reach the $1.1M target); and I helped with many other projects. I know this can be done. Thanks to the Soccer Club, this facility will benefit other groups as well. I will devote personal energy and enthusiasm to this important community project.
Rejuvenation of Inlet Park was a high priority years ago. As Mayor, I would propose it to Council as the top priority capital project with design and implementation to commence in 2015.
2. WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO REVISIT THE PROJECT APPROVED ON MAY 8, 2012 AND LOOK AT ENHANCING SOME OF THE FUTURE DEVELPMENTS IDENTIFIED AS BEING REQUIRED? *
Absolutely. The new Council should revisit specific needs overlooked in 2012. The practical next steps are to do a review of our population growth and needs, reconsider the three options from the R. F. Binnie study, include a modern field house in the project’s scope of work and update the cost estimate for design and construction. This review can be done quickly and it should be completed before the capital budget is finalized. Funds should be allocated in the 2015 budget year for detailed engineering design. In my experience, for a project of this magnitude to be expedited, an experienced project manager would need to be appointed early 2015.
If our population is to grow by 15,000 more people as proposed in the plan endorsed by the outgoing Council (an unsustainable plan which I totally disagree with), our community would be grossly underserved, ending up with a deep shortage of sports fields. This was demonstrated in a recent Parks & Recreation Master Plan presentation where the city was told that to accommodate 15,000 more people, we would need an additional 106 acres of active recreation space.
Acquiring that much land would require the city to budget $100+ million (using a highly conservative rate of $1 million per acre). If such a huge sum was to come from developer contributions, the bonus density required to offset these contributions would push the population even higher.
What we need is leadership that connects the dots between growth, recreation, parks, jobs and infrastructure. I offer a better plan.
3. WHAT TYPE OF FUNDING MODEL AND TIMELINE WOULD YOU SUPPORT FOR THIS PROJECT?
TIMELINE. Based on question 2 above, I assume that the Port Moody Soccer Club wants to revisit the very limited scope of the project approved on May 8, 2012 and re-consider the recommendations from the R. F. Binnie study. Soccer parents and the Port Moody Soccer Club paid for this feasibility study and we need to act on it.
We need to finalize the detailed engineering design in 2015. With a dedicated project manager, close working relationship with community groups and strong leadership on Council, we will start construction in 2016.
FUNDING MODEL. When we doubled the size of the Recreation Centre, we used a funding model that included 8 funding sources: federal/provincial grants, capital reserves, borrowing, developer levies (pre-identified in the city’s plan), user fees, donations, lease revenue and taxation. Working with the Soccer Club, we need to formulate a business plan that leverages as many funding sources as possible.
4. WHAT SUPPORT COULD YOU PROVIDE IN HELPING TO MOVE THIS PROJECT FORWARD?
I played a leadership role in major fund raising initiatives for: Crossroads Hospice (I was President of the Crossroads Hospice Society; we reached our $2.3M target); Port Moody’s Olympic Ice Arena (I was City Manager when we exceeded our $1M target); Mossom Creek Hatchery (I volunteered to design the building that’s under construction and personally recruited several donors to help reach the $1.1M target); and I helped with many other projects. I know this can be done. Thanks to the Soccer Club, this facility will benefit other groups as well. I will devote personal energy and enthusiasm to this important community project.