After a resounding "no" vote in Saturday's referendum, Peachland Mayor Keith Fielding says the issue will be debated no more. "As far as I'm concerned, and I think I can speak quite confidently on behalf of council, from my understanding the issue is dead, and we have to decline the money," says Fielding. Peachland residents voted Saturday in a legislative-mandated referendum on whether to borrow $1.3 million to construct a curling club and multi-purpose facility. With the "no" vote comes a requirement that Peachland turn down $2.6 million in grant money to go towards the facility. Fielding says there was some misinformation spread during the debate leading up to the vote, "although whether it was mischievous or if there was misunderstanding, I don't know." Fielding says he believes some of the confusion came from the fact there were two different proposals for the facility. The first proposal was an entirely private venture on behalf of the curling community that would have seen local curling associations raise the money themselves for the facility. When that fell through, the second proposal was raised, which would see the facility have a multi-use community purpose as well as the curling component. "So, there was some confusion among residents about why the curling community wasn't raising $800,000 themselves," says Fielding, adding since the facility was now going to be a public facility, that was no longer required. In the end, Fielding says he believes the issue came down to cost and priority. "There were concerns about the costs, and for others it was a concern if this was a priority." Fielding says he's disappointed and supported the idea at council. "But the people have spoken, almost two-to-one," he says.
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COMMUNITY CURLING AND MULTI-USE FACILITY REFERENDUM
May 15, 2010 REFERENDUM RESULTS
| Total Yes: | 633 | Total No: | 1303 |
| Number of Votes Cast: | 1936 | ||
If approved, the Community Curling and Multi-Use Facility would cost $3.9 million to build. The District has been awarded a Building Communities grant, with federal and provincial funding that would pay for two-thirds of the cost of the construction. The remaining one-third or $1.3 million could be borrowed by the District of Peachland through the Municipal Finance Authority. The construction project must be completed by March 31, 2011 or the grant is forfeited.
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