While the Sunshine Coast Baseball Association (SCBA) is not quite “safe at home” securing funding for its new batting cage, it made major progress on July 13. Gibsons council, at a special meeting that day, voted in favour of providing the association with $14,000 for the Dempster Field project.
“Those funds were set aside by council when the former batting cage was removed to facilitate construction of the RCMP station,” said Mayor Bill Beamish.
The association was also encouraged by council to apply for the town’s second round of 2021 Grants of Assistance and for a COVID pandemic cost offset grant that the municipality has made available to community groups. Those two sources could net the SCBA an additional $3,000.
SCBA representative and cage project coordinator Ed Pednaud spoke at the meeting, noting that the cost to complete the new cage facility is just over $60,000. With only $38,265 on hand for the project, the SCBA has been fundraising and sought out funding from local government. Now, with up to $17,000 coming from Gibsons, the group is within $5,000 of fully funding the project. Pednaud said that fundraising activities would continue.
The batting cage that previously existed in Gibsons was removed over 10 years ago. It was determined that structure was too close to the new RCMP detachment being built on Sunnycrest Road.
