Thursday, April 07, 2011

Greater Vernon Politicians Band Together For Second Sports Facility Bid - Vernon director calls for more direct involvement by local sports groups



Greater Vernon politicians have put aside their differences, pledging a united front in an effort to get a $7.8-imillion dollar track and field facility built on Okanagan College land. The Agricultural Land Commission recently rejected an application to take the ten acres out of the Agricultural Land Reserve. Coldstream Mayor Jim Garlick is undaunted by the rejection, stating that it would be ``silly'' to walk away from the project. He told members of the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee Thursday that the Commission needs more detail and a ``bigger picture'' presentation. ``Where are we looking at going in the future with parks and they also want to know what the potential is for future applications they will be receiving,'' stated Garlick. Vernon director Patrick Nicol said sports groups should be more involved in the 2nd bid. He said they are enthusiastic supporters of the plan and that should be made apparent to the Commission. ``You need the public support,'' stressed Nicol. He said the ALC's decision was inappropriate.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm looking forward to the defining of community "need" with some hard data on the number of active sports participants in this community. Parks and Rec has never adequately addressed the decrease in school age population,the largest users of these facilities. The school board now knows how large these numbers actually are as they impact their budgets big time. Get ready for lots of surplus facility and empty fields in a few years time if this data is ignored!