Rec working group presents proposal tomorrow

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By Jim Mosher
Friday August 17, 2007

Interlake Spectator - WINNIPEG BEACH - A proposed future for the Winnipeg Beach Municipal Recreation Centre will be up for public scrutiny. A working committee will present its plan tomorrow (Sat., Aug. 18) at a public meeting that begins at 10 a.m. at the Hamilton Ave. rec centre.
The public meeting is the culmination of a series of meetings, which began with a well-attended public workshop in June. The workshop set the stage for the creation of the working group, comprised of people who expressed an interest in fleshing out key workshop conclusions. The working group is now prepared to present a community-driven plan for the rec centre.
After the public session tomorrow, the working group will finetune the proposal before presenting a final plan to Winnipeg Beach council Aug. 28.
The future of the rec centre has been in limbo since its volunteer board ceded operational and financial control to the town last fall. The town owns the building, which was built largely by volunteers, 27 years ago. The turning point came when mold was discovered in the building late last summer. Remediation work began in earnest; it would be completed early this year.

The work prevented ice for public and recreational skating being put in. It would not be a great dislocation for the centre’s principal winter user -- the Winnipeg Beach Figure Skating Club -- because it had already pulled up ‘skates’, and headed north to Gimli. As well, it was believed in the early fall that only a single hockey team would be cobbled together for the season. Hockey players joined figure skaters in the trek north.
Ironically, the confluence of these unforeseen events -- the mold, the departure of the centre’s main sources of winter revenue -- presented a rare opportunity. Maybe after years of getting by, sometimes losing ground financially, there was a different use for the building.
At the June workshop, participants generally agreed that a multi-use, multiply-purposed centre that would serve all age groups is required. That sentiment would be the guiding principle for the working group, which began working in July with the variety of options presented at the workshop.
Rhonda Lorch, a Winnipeg consultant who specializes in helping get community-based initiatives off the ground, led the workshop and has assisted the working group. She will be conducting the session tomorrow.
The final decision about whether to adopt the draft plan will be left to council. It will come with a price tag; Mayor Don Pepe said council knew that going into to the latest round of public consultation. The mayor and town staff, including recreation director Julianna Roberts, have taken a step back, preferring, they say, to let the public decide.
“I really pulled back,” Roberts said Monday. “I wanted the community to really be the one that makes the decision. Council wants the decision and ownership to be with the community.”
Pepe says he expects council will look favorably on the proposal when it’s presented later this month. “The process, I feel, has been the proper one,” he said. “The politicians have kept their mouths and hands and ideas back. When the proposal is presented, I strongly believe council should act on it.”