The July 24 council meeting saw a packed public gallery with public figures including the Hope Search and Rescue manager Mario Levesque, Hope RCMP detachment commander Karol Rehdner, Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) Area B director Dennis Adamson, Fraser Health Healthy Living Coordinator Anne Todd.
FVRD senior staff attended that evening to share about the 50th anniversary of regional districts. They also said that the Hope to Agassiz bus service will start Sept. 5.
That evening saw two declassifications of in camera items — the first regarding the Station House and the second regarding the purchase of the land the Hope Community Garden is on. Another item of note concerns the dog park proposal.
Station House declassification
Mayor Wilfried Vicktor said the District of Hope will put together a non-binding referedum/public opinion poll to query how Hope residents feel about the Station House project. He said there will be some information at the next council meeting, scheduled for Aug. 28. Council passed a motion for staff to prepare a report. The Aug. 28 meeting will be hosted at the Hope and District Recreation Centre’s Conference Room instead.
Buying land where community garden is
Council will budget $320,000 to buy 455 Coquihalla St., where the Community Garden is, a decision they made two Thursday mornings ago in a special council meeting. The bylaw passed three readings at the July 24 council meeting.
“We’re trying to be very entrepreneurial in our approach,” said the mayor on July 24. “We recognize that when District of Hope raises taxes one per cent, we only get an extra $73,000. So we’re trying to think out of the box.”
The Community Garden’s club can now decide on whether they want to stay or move elsewhere. In an interview with Fortoloczky after the Thursday council meeting, he said that no decision has been made on how to move forward with development yet. He said the club did not use all the space on the property, and the District has no use for all or part of the space, besides hosting the Community Garden.
“Therefore, there was always going to be a sale of some or all of that parcel,” said Fortoloczky. “Originally, the option was that they may wish to stay there … and we’re still working on things, so they may indeed wish to move to a more permanent and secure location in which case then the District will have the option to sell the entire parcel.”
The mayor said the executive of the Community Garden has been briefed on potential locations where they could move to. He also said that he wants the executive to tell their members of their decision, which council will announce to the public.
Asked for his comments by the mayor at the council meeting, chief administrative officer John Fortoloczky said, “Done correctly, the District stands to turn a small profit.”
Dog park costs
Council has released a report detailing the costs for an approximately-0.65-acre dog park over an existing turf area between the Curling Club and Sixth Avenue Ball Diamond.
Should a contractor do it, the District will have to pay $6,750 plus taxes for a $1,500 water service, $5,000 for fencing and $250 for signage.
Vicktor said that the District could save money if volunteers did the installation. Operations supervisor Kevin Dicken did not have the information of how much labour played a part in the costs at that point. Coun. Bob Erickson suggested that the fencing should be done by professionals because of his experience on how much time is necessary.
Dicken said, in his experience, volunteers will lose their enthusiasm over time, hence, maintenance will fall on the municipality. Maintenance includes grass cutting, water service maintenance and general upkeep.
Medlock pointed out that the dog park group should speak to the Curling Club to find out if they are willing to allow a side of their building to act as a boundary. The park will need further fencing if the curling rink cannot serve as the northern boundary.
Kropp said the dog park will have a positive impact on tourism, as she has heard of tourists looking for a dog park.
A report on steps forward come to the next council meeting.