The city needs to share the burden when it comes to providing recreation facilities, according to the review completed by staff.
During tonight's meeting, city manager Beth James will present city council with the completed Community Recreation Service Plan, which surveyed city facilities such as parks, trails, swimming pools and ice arenas and their users to learn if they're up to snuff.
Older facilities such as the Four Seasons Pool, Coliseum and Elksentre were identified as being at the end of their service life. A separate review of the city's aquatic facilities is underway and staff will prepare another assessment for the Coliseum, Elksentre repairs and Exhibition Sports Centre expansion.
The 136-page report outlines a variety of areas where the city can partner and further consult with users and user groups to streamline how recreation services are offered throughout the municipality.
Among the conclusions from the months-long process, staff found the "delivery of recreation has evolved into a highly distributed approach with many independently operating community, sport or neighbourbood organizations," according to the report. "Administration is concerned that this operating model is not sustainable."
For example, there are 56 baseball diamonds in the city, which are managed through rental agreements or partnerships with the school district or community associations.
Rental agreement user groups (such as P.G. Youth Baseball Association, Spruce City Minor Boys' Softball, P.G. Ladies' Fastball and P.G. Nechako Mixed Slo-Pitch) are facing rising costs due to the annual fee which was raised after the core services review, increasing hydro rates and the rising cost of supplies and materials, according to the report.
This makes it a good time to engage with those seven agreement holders to explore options for increased shared use of ball diamonds, which - according to the staff report - could "result in efficiencies and have benefits for clubs that are facing lower volunteer rates, declining participation rates and increasing costs."
In addition to that consultation, staff are also recommending decommissioning or repurposing underutilized ball diamonds.
Trimming down the inventory is also a recommendation when it comes to the city-owned hard surface and tennis courts and neighbourhood playgrounds.
Last summer, city staff reviewed the tennis court stock after a core review recommendation to decommission 21 courts to save $18,000 in annual maintenance costs. As a result, 29 courts are no longer maintained and outfitted with nets every season. The remaining 34 courts will remain under watch to see if anymore will be shuttered. The already decommissioned courts are still available for use as an ice rink by community association request. Basketball courts will also be treated with the same strategy.
Of the city's 66 playgrounds, there are about 40 which are not currently up to Canadian Standards Association (CSA) safety requirements mainly due to inadequate protective ground surfacing and older playground designs.
This has been an ongoing challenge, first identified in a 2001 audit. Twenty-two non-conforming playgrounds were replaced between 2002 and 2009, but the elimination of dedicated recreation-related funding in 2010 halted that work.
"There is not enough capital funding to replace all the playgrounds at one time and the removal of all non-conforming (CSA standard) playgrounds is not a reasonable option," said the report.
Staff recommend moving towards a playground supply of at least one per 800 metres of a neighbourhood. Where there is more than one and if a playground needs to be replaced, the city would consult with the neighbourhoods to figure out the level of demand. Those playgrounds with the highest level of use and have the highest need for full replacement would be addressed first, but the most problematic pieces of equipment in each playground would be removed.
