Burnaby Updates

[Migrant_Coconut]

Aaaaaand it's gone.

Burnaby cancels $240M Confederation Park Community Centre project amid funding challenges

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Burnaby council has cancelled a $240-million plan to build a major community centre at Confederation Park.

Councillors expressed their disappointment with the situation at a meeting Tuesday, Jan. 28.

Staff had recommended abandoning the plan to redevelop Confederation Park Community Centre, as not only have costs escalated since the project was first introduced, but the city’s usual major civic project funding source has run dry.

For the most part, councillors agreed with staff that the northwest quadrant of Burnaby won’t need another community centre because the Brentwood Community Centre has already been approved.

The project is still on the city’s long-term to-do list, as it is included in calculations for the city’s new amenity funding bylaw, a new mechanism by which the city will fund major civic projects through charges on development.

But the bylaw was just introduced last year, and while some money has collected in that “amenity cost charge” reserve, staff are not sure when enough will accumulate to continue with the community centre project.

“It all depends on development and economic activity,” Noreen Kassam, chief financial officer and deputy chief administrative officer, told councillors.

Kassam noted if the council decided to scale down the project and borrow money for a $160-million community centre, the total loan cost for an amortization period of 10 years would be about $200 million — for a “bare bones facility.”