Park board touts new deal on community centres

The Vancouver park board has unveiled a new proposed joint-operating agreement that lays out its relationship with the 20 associations that run 21 of the city’s community centres for the next 15 years.

The proposed plan improves access for all users, removes mandatory membership and provides a universal discount for low-income residents at all community centres, said park board general manager Malcolm Bromley at a news conference Wednesday.

It would require community centre associations to chip in one to two per cent of their gross annual revenue toward a system-wide investment fund to be redistributed to financially struggling community centres, such as Strathcona, Thunderbird and Champlain Heights.

Bromley estimated the fund’s value at around $200,000 to $300,000 annually starting in the second or third year of the agreement.

“Some centres are making surplus dollars, accumulating wealth, while others are making it just year to year,” he said.

The final draft of the plan also establishes a universal subsidy program by requiring all centres to accept the leisure-access program, which provides low-income residents discounted access to programs and facilities, separate from any subsidies already offered by individual centres.

In order to resolve an ongoing legal dispute where six community centres have claimed partial ownership of community centre assets, the draft plan assigns ownership of assets to the city of Vancouver.