The Gibsons Minor Baseball Association (GMBA) has made some progress as it works with the Town of Gibsons to move their batting cage in preparation for the new RCMP building in 2011.
Julian Burtnick, a GMBA coach and long-time community supporter, has stepped up with funding for the GMBA. The Town is matching the funding, but GMBA still expects to need more funds for the project and will be seeking more from the community in the coming months.
GMBA president Brian Scarr is also hopeful that their project will be short-listed in the Aviva Community Fund competition. Voting for the first round closes today (Oct. 15). As of Tuesday, more than 200 people had registered their votes for the GMBA project.
"GMBA is pleased with the Town's willingness to provide partial funding for this relocation project," Scarr said. "In addition, we are very fortunate to have Julian Burtnick stepping up to assist in the co-ordination of this project. He brings years of expertise in this area, and we are looking forward to working with him to create a much-improved indoor facility, both in appearance and functionality, from what we have now. It is our hope to include other user groups in the community who will also benefit from the creation of this new facility. All in all, this will be a very good thing for our sporting community."
Gibsons director of parks and cultural services Wendy Gilbertson said she plans to meet with Burtnick this week to start ironing out the details.
"The big next step is to settle on the site and to get all parties to approve where the cage will be relocated," she said.
Gilbertson said she hopes to have a report to present to council within the next few weeks.
