NO NEW WEST END COMMUNITY CENTRE IN MULTI-YEAR CAPITAL PLAN
Lack of provincial money for new KG cited

by John Streit
(click images to enlarge)

It was touted as the largest single investment of its kind in Vancouver’s history back on April 15: $400 million in funding towards community centre renewal as part of the 2027-2030 Capital Plan.

**ICE RINK ENTRANCE AT THE COMMUNITY CENTRE.**

In a statement, Mayor Ken Sim said “Community centres are at the heart of Vancouver’s neighbourhoods, and this is about making sure they reflect the needs of the city we are today.”

But West Enders, hoping for a long-awaited new facility in their neighbourhood, were left disappointed after checking Mayor Sim’s list. Instead, it was Dunbar Community Centre, Kerrisdale Community Centre, Hastings Community Centre, Roundhouse Community Centre and Kensington Community Centre identified as priority sites for replacement or large-scale reconstruction.

This as the West End Community Hub Renewal Plan, started in 2021 and endorsed by the West End Community Centre Association in 2023 and City Council, Park Board and Vancouver Public Library Board in 2024 remains in limbo.

A completed WE Community Hub would include a new community centre, library, high school, pre-school, fire hall and ice rink (under the school field) – all crafted after extensive and lengthy public consultations.

**OVERHEAD VIEW OF THE WEST END COMMUNITY HUB SITE** *(COURTESY CITY OF VANCOUVER)*

West End Community Centre Association president Linda Johnston has been a staunch advocate for a new building and was heavily involved the Community Hub process, putting in countless volunteer hours. “The main thing with the building is that it’s just too small. You know, the population of the West End has probably doubled in the last 50 years. We do see it, especially with space for kids programs and childcare and all of those things. We're just very limited to how many people we can look after. A lot of our courses have waiting lists,” she says.

Park Board chair Tom Digby calls Mayor Sim’s community centre renewal plan a good start. “$400 million is not sneezing money. But we (Park Board) did call for about $1.1 billion worth of investment in our recreation facilities, which is what Mayor Sim was referring to there. He's talked about $400 million for recreation facilities, like community centres. He identified only community centres. We want that 1.1 billion to include swimming pools and ice rinks as well. So, a bit of a difference. I think we're into a negotiation period here,” he tells TWEJ.

**PARK BOARD CHAIR TOM DIGBY** *(TOM DIGBY WEBSITE PHOTO)*

Digby was asked if he thought the correct community centres were on the City’s newest renewal list. “Well, some of the community centres correspond to what we at the Park Board feel are the community centres of highest need of renewal and restoration, but not all of them were. And some of the high-need areas were not included on the mayor's list. So, there was a partial overlap with our high needs, but some things extra that were unexpected and something things are missing,” he says.

Digby explains what is keeping the West End Community Hub from moving forward to the Capital Plan funding stage. “The issue with the West End Community Hub and several other facilities is the need for our co-owner partner to get involved with decision-making. The West End Hub is partnered with the Vancouver School Board, as is Britannia, as is Strathcona, and as is Killarney. Now Killarney is okay, it's in good shape, but the other three are all badly in need of repair and renewal and none of them have commitment from the Vancouver School Board. So that is an area where if you had a really active mayor that was paying attention to this stuff they would be leading those long and complicated negotiations with those other institutions and would be spending their time in Victoria, negotiating with the minister of education to move some of those complicated projects along. So unfortunately, the mayor has not been particularly persistent, or we're not aware of any leadership regarding those partnered facilities. So unfortunately, they're not on anybody's list for the upcoming capital plan,” he says.

Linda Johnston at WECCA says it’s been made clear the City was good to go on the West End Community Hub. “It's completely blamed on the province. If they don't do King George Secondary School, they don't do the rest. Because the way it was planned, way back when, after the years we spent on all that nonsense, was they would build the school first and it would be at the back of the site. And then when they moved in, they would tear that down and then they'd tear us down as well at the same time. The only one that was guaranteed continuous service was the school. But with no provincial funding for the school, then the whole thing just kind of petered out, I guess,” she says. Johnston adds it’ll be difficult to convince the province to invest in a new and larger West End school while there are still portables in Surrey.

**LIBRARY WINDOW POSTERS TOUTING WE COMMUNITY HUB** (*HCMA ARCHITECTURE PHOTO)*

Digby is waiting for more details, including fire halls, libraries, neighborhood houses, sewers and sidewalks to come out in the full Capital Plan next month. “You want to have broad public consensus to make sure we're maximizing the public benefit for these public dollars. That's the real test of what we're going to see in June. Because if people suspect there's any political shenanigans going on with, you know, council members voting for projects in their pet neighborhoods, then that throws the whole project into doubt, doesn't it? And I think Vancouver will resent that and possibly not approve any borrowing if they are not confident that this has been publicly vetted and has broad multi-party support. So that's what we're looking for in June and I think we definitely need to hear back from staff and to see what's on their list. What is the state of negotiations with the Vancouver School Board around these facilities?” he says.

The City of Vancouver tells the TWEJ there is no fixed deadline for moving ahead with the West End Community Hub. “The renewal work completed so far follows the long‑term direction set out in the 2013 West End Community Plan. That plan called for the City and its partners to work together over time to develop a strategy to renew and expand the West End Community Centre, Joe Fortes Library, and King George Secondary School, and to look for opportunities to share space and services. The Renewal Plan approved in February 2024 fulfilled that policy direction by setting out a long‑term vision for the site. The Community Plan also looks ahead over several decades, with goals to renew major facilities as they age and as the neighbourhood grows. As a result, while there is no set timeline to begin construction, planning for the West End Community Hub has been carried out within the long-term policy framework established for the neighbourhood. Moving forward will depend on securing funding from all project partners,” according to emailed response to our questions from the City. Most importantly perhaps, “funding is required from all partners to move the project forward, and work to secure this funding continues. Construction will not start until funding is secured from all partners and construction will need to be phased over multiple capital plans (based on funding and renewal priorities).”

**VANCOUVER FIRE CHIEF KAREN FRY** (*INSTAGRAM PHOTO)*

Part of the WE Community HUB includes a new Vancouver Fire Hall No. 6 on Barclay near Denman. The current brick Fire Hall No. 6 at Nelson and Nicola is turning 120 years old next year and last had a seismic upgrade in 1988. We asked Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services’ Chief Karen Fry if firefighters are calling for a new building. “We have higher priority fire halls in the city that don't currently meet the demands of their area: including Firehall No. 8 (which is being rebuilt), Firehall No. 9, and Firehall No.2. These are the current priorities. Firehall No. 6 has had renovations over the years and though we'd always prefer larger facilities with additional space for growth, we can defer this at this time,” she says.

With civic elections happening in October, some civic parties are already releasing hints of their platforms including plans for parks and recreation. For example, the Vancouver Liberals say “investing in parks, libraries, and community spaces is how we reduce crime. That’s why we’re committing 400 new frontline workers and a historic $1.35B investment in parks, recreation, and pools,” according to their website. The West End Journal asked Park Board Chair Tom Digby if his Green Party would commit to funding a West End Community Hub if provincial money for a new KG Secondary School was approved by the provincial government. “You need to be careful because we don't want to pit neighborhoods against each other in terms of the need for renewal. We definitely know the West End Community Hub does need renewal and a rebuild there, but I don't want to get into a Hunger Games situation where we lean in with our favorite neighborhoods seeking votes. We need to make sure that the maximum public benefit is across the city. I would actually caution that if there are candidates that are making very specific promises on things like that, to really take a healthy dose of skepticism to that, because it's not up to just one political party to make the decision. This is public money, these are long 50-to-70-year investments that we make in these facilities and people in the city want to know that this is being done above board fairly and that politics are kept out of it,” Digby says.

The City of Vancouver says its staff and partner agencies continue to work behind the scenes on coordination, funding strategies and alignment with respective capital plans for the WE Community Hub. Does that include a request for possible federal infrastructure funding? “As with other major capital projects, the City will consider pursuing senior government funding through programs for which the West End Community Centre project is eligible. The City will continue to prioritize and maximize external funding opportunities to advance projects identified in the Capital Plan.”

While there’s no money currently for a new community centre, the existing 1976 one has been getting $5 million worth of upgrades and repairs. “This includes completed work on the elevator, cooling systems and parkade ventilation. Future improvements are planned to help extend the life of these facilities,” according to the COV.

Linda Johnston with WECCA believes West Enders, many living in small apartments, deserve better. “Many have no fitness centers, no amenity room and they have almost no outside space. So those are the people that desperately need the community center.”

But she’s not getting her hopes up.

“I don't think the new building is going to happen in my lifetime, so let's fix what we've got.”

West Ender John Streit has been a B.C. radio, TV and online journalist
for more than 25 years. You can listen to John anchor
Global News weekday mornings on 730 CKNW Radio in Vancouver.