Gibsons council voted on Nov. 3 to continue with the process of transferring money out of the parks acquisition fund and decided – pending ministerial approval of the transfer – to contribute $275,000 towards the expansion of the Gibsons Public Market.
Two delegations spoke at the committee of the whole meeting earlier that day to request funding from the parks fund. Donna Thomas from For the Love of Gospel Rock said that the fund should be put towards the purchase of Gospel Rock.
“The value of the parks fund isn’t in the money that’s in it, it’s in the reasons for it,” Thomas said. “The decider to acquire a park – like Gospel Rock – still exists, so the reason for maintaining a substantial park fund still exists.”
Following Thomas, Pam Robertson, co-chair of the capital campaign for the public market expansion project through the Gibsons Community Building Society (GCBS), requested a contribution of $250,000 from the Town to help meet the initial construction costs for the project so they can break ground by the end of 2015.
Robertson said Island Coast Economic Trust has offered a matching grant of $400,000 but only if GCBS meets its construction deadline on Jan. 1.
“We’re at a vital stage and the Town of Gibsons’ support is very important to us,” Robertson said. “In order to have sufficient funds raised to enable that construction to go ahead, we have a $600,000 gap that we need to close and the $250,000 that we have requested in financial support from the Town of Gibsons will help us close that gap.”
Coun. Silas White made a motion to increase the amount of funding from the Town from the requested $250,000 to $275,000 to match the amount generated through community contributions. The motion was seconded by Coun. Charlene SanJenko and carried in a vote by all councillors except for Coun. Jeremy Valeriote, who was not in attendance.
“I could justify matching the $275,000 that was raised in the community and put forward by community members,” White said. “I think it’s important because this money was originally raised by the Town to invest in land and to purchase land. It should be used to purchase land and invest in equity.”
The Town acted as receiver of community contributions totalling $275,000 that went towards the purchase of the building in late 2013.
“There’s a numbered company that owns the building and that numbered company includes the Town of Gibsons, the Community Foundation, Community Futures and the Public Market Society,” Gibsons CEO Emanuel Machado explained. “We have an interest of 38 per cent. This contribution from last night is also to go towards equity, but we have to sit down with the other partners and determine how exactly it will look.”
Robertson said the GCBS will need $2.2 million committed before they can begin construction. They have $1.6 million now but estimate a total cost of just over $3 million for the full project.
Council gave first reading to the parks acquisition fund bylaw that night. The bylaw will need to go through second and third reading, then receive acceptance from the Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development before any funds can be transferred out of the parks acquisition fund.
Three public inquiries, which questioned the decision to allocate funds for the public market, were made during the inquiry periods at the council meeting.
Gibsons resident Katie Janyk said she remembered a promise that the public market would not be asking for more funding from the Town.
“Aside from the obvious question of whether the funds should be drained completely, or some money retained for a rainy day, my question is this: shouldn’t council be looking at the merits of spending parks acquisition money on the market, versus spending it on infrastructure related to actual parks and green spaces?” Janyk asked.
Gibsons Mayor Wayne Rowe responded by saying that the fund isn’t limited to green space, but that it could go towards a community facility – like the public market.
There is currently $338,000 in the parks acquisition fund. Pending ministerial approval, the total amount of these funds will be transferred to the capital projects reserve fund, which currently has just over $9,000.
Even if the funds are transferred out of the acquisition fund, the fund itself will still remain.
