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Beware strangers bearing gifts: the case of Trout Lake Community Centre

The Trout Lake Ice Rink Replacement project illustrates how VANOC seed funding for the construction of Olympic venues derails community infrastructure planning, disrupts community services and leaves Vancouverites with a huge bill.

  • The Trout Lake Community Centre is an older facility that has been slated for renewal. In 2004 VANOC offered to contribute $2.5 million (or half of the then-estimated $5 million) toward the cost of the Trout Lake Ice Rink replacement in exchange for its use as a practice venue in the two months leading up to and during the 2010 Games.
  • Residents were told that the rink would be replaced first to be ready for the Olympics, and the Community Centre would be replaced afterwards.
  • Since entering into this agreement the cost of the Trout Lake Ice Rink Replacement project has more than tripled to a current total of $16 million.
  • Parks Board and Council have now diverted funding from the budget for the Riley Park post-Olympic Curling Rink conversion to deal with the cost overruns at Trout Lake.
  • The Grandview Community Association has been forced to contribute $250,000 toward the Trout Lake project so that the skaters' lounge would not be axed from the original design to cut costs.
  • Meanwhile, the VANOC contribution remains fixed and it refuses to provide additional funds despite the inflationary market conditions the Olympics have helped create, leaving the City holding the bag for over $13 million (so far).
  • To try to stem cost escalations, Park Board has moved up the construction schedule of the rink and closed Trout Lake, along with other facilities dealing with similar conditions, for the entire 2007/08 season at considerable inconvenience for existing users, and all without community consultation.
  • To date, VANOC has refused to provide information on its securirity arrangements to community associations whose centres are being used.
  • The entire Trout Lake Community Centre risks being surrounded by a security perimeter because the Centre is situated between the rink and parking lot (which VANOC also requires the use of). Implications could include the complete closure of the Community Centre (and all programming, not just the rink) for the fall 2009 and spring 2010 season.
  • In May of this year, the $20 million Trout Lake Community Centre portion of the Replacement project was cut from the City's 2009-2011 Draft Capital Plan.
  • Staff reported that previous capital plans had provided "significant funding for building renewal" (i.e., the rink) and that "higher priority projects should be addressed in the 2009 – 2011 Capital Plan." Translation: "Guess what folks, despite what we promised you're not getting your community centre after all".
  • The Trout Lake is now the oldest community centre in the city. It has been slated for replacement since 2001. And now, thanks to the Olympics, the city has no plans to even begin replacing it until 2012 at the earliest.

There will be a Vancouver Park Board meeting on Monday, June 23 at 7pm at Trout Lake Community Centre (3350 Victoria Drive). Let the Park Board know your concerns about the Olympics at Britannia and Trout Lake.