BURNABY, B.C. \u2013 Burnaby City Council voted Aug. 28 to defer construction of a new Confederation Park Community Centre and is exploring other options for delivery, citing provincial government changes in how civic amenities are funded.<\/p>\n
Council has asked city staff to report back in a timely manner with options to reduce project costs through a redesign and seek alternate sources of funding, a release said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recognize the urgent need to provide residents with access to top-quality recreation and community centres, which is why we\u2019re moving forward with a number of major projects over the next five years,\u201d said Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a city we are proud of the fact that for many years we have funded new facilities through our savings \u2014 not by borrowing or increasing taxes. Changes by the province will make that difficult to avoid in the future and this deferral will help minimize any impact to our residents.\u201d<\/p>\n
New city amenities were previously funded through the Community Benefit Bonus Policy, the release said, and the policy enabled the city to collect money from developers in exchange for added density in our town centres.<\/p>\n
\u201cChanges in provincial legislation have significantly reduced the ability of this program to raise funds. Although the province introduced a new funding tool in 2024, called Amenity Cost Charges (ACCs), the city\u2019s ACC bylaw only came into effect in July 1, 2024. The new ACC fees will take several years to accumulate and based on the province\u2019s rules, may only be used for a small portion of the project,\u201d the release said.<\/p>\n
The city will continue to develop four other facilities over the next five years: the Burnaby Lake Recreation Complex, the Cameron Community Centre and Library replacement project, the James Cowan Theatre redevelopment and the replacement of the Burnaby RCMP detachment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThese four projects are among many projects currently underway that will be funded through existing funds in the city\u2019s Community Benefit Bonus reserve. With these projects, the funds from the reserve are fully committed,\u201d the release said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BURNABY, B.C. \u2013 Burnaby City Council voted Aug. 28 to defer construction of a new Confederation Park Community Centre and is exploring other options for delivery, citing provincial government changes in how civic amenities are funded. Council has asked city staff to report back in a timely manner with options to reduce project costs through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":356337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[10,9],"tags":[1490,6920,89098],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n