New ten lane pool & west end community centre form part of commitment to encourage healthy and active lifestyle

Arenex ‘bubble’ decision should be put on hold until after civic election

New Westminster, B.C. (July 19, 2018): The New Westminster Progressive (NWP) candidates announced today if they are elected to council, they will work to secure funding for a new ten lane competitive pool and community centre in the West End. They are also calling upon the council to put a halt on the temporary bubble complex being planned to replace the Arenex building which collapsed in December 2016.

“The last major sports and recreation facility we built in our city was back in 1974,” says Daniel Fontaine, council candidate. “In fact, with the sudden loss of the Arenex back in 2016, we’re actually moving backwards in our city when it comes to our overall capacity. We need better long-term planning and people elected to city council who truly believe in supporting more sports, recreation and community activities in our city.”

Today the New West Progressive council candidates launched the third major component of its platform with the release of our sports, recreation and active living commitments. This includes placing a particular focus on ensuring we are able to meet the growing needs of an increasing number of seniors who live in our city.

“We want to invest in a new ten lane pool and expanded Queen’s Park Arena as well as putting a halt to the ill-thought out plans to construct a temporary bubble to replace the Arenex,” says Paul McNamara, candidate for council. “The proposed ‘temporary’ bubble complex isn’t close to public transit and if it’s built will limit our ability to add additional green space to the park.”

The NWP plan also includes:

– Within 90 days initiate an independent “future needs assessment” and community consultation to determine what should be the key priorities regarding the renewal, replacement and construction of new sports and recreation facilities throughout the city. The report will include:

• A thorough analysis of the cost related to expanding Queen’s Park Arena with another play surface to support the efforts of organizations such as the New Westminster Lacrosse Association & New Westminster Minor Hockey Association as well as other local organized sport groups.
• A review of opportunities to expand more all-weather fields to support the New Westminster Soccer Club, New Westminster Little League and other local organized sports group using the existing fields.

– Better integrating and expanding recreational programming aimed at supporting an active and healthy lifestyle for our growing seniors population.

– Consulting with the public and organized sport organizations to develop a 20 year fiscally sustainable facilities plan that will become a roadmap to ensure New Westminster tackles its ‘public amenities deficit’ and reclaims its position as one of the top destinations supporting sports and recreation activities in our region.

– Reviewing the fees developers pay to the city to ensure they are adequately supporting new investments in sports, recreation and community facilities.

– Determining the feasibility of New Westminster partnering with other cities in our region to place a bid to co-host a major sporting event such as the BC Summer Games.

– Designating the new sport and recreation complex replacing the Canada Games Pool as an Aquatic Centre of Excellence.

– Determining the feasibility of redirecting insurance funds obtained through the Arenex collapse to facilitate the development of an expanded community center at the current site of the Canada Games Pool.

– Consulting with our sports and recreation organizations and Tourism New Westminster to develop and implement a New Westminster Sport Tourism Strategy.

– Target new funds collected through planned densification near the 22nd Street Skytrain Station to develop a business plan as a means of developing a new community centre located in the West End.

“We need to be doing more to ensure local residents of all ages have the necessary facilities and programs they need to live a healthy and active lifestyle,” says Bryn Ward. “Our team is strongly committed to ensuring increased density and development directly translates into modernizing current and increasing access to new sport, recreation and community facilities.”

NWP candidates for council and school board will be releasing other components of their election platform leading up to the October 20th civic election. To learn more about our platform, click here.