Animal rights activist touts Trout Lake, attacks animal shelter

City defends draft capital plan, postponement of community centre renovation
Sandra Thomas, Vancouver Courier
Published: Wednesday, September 10, 2008

An East Side woman wants to know why the city's draft capital plan includes $18.5 million for a new animal shelter when the much-needed rebuild of Trout Lake Community Centre was again postponed.

Donna Liberson, an animal rights activist, said while she supports proper care for shelter animals, she questions the motivation behind the move.

"The items on the 2009-2011 [draft] capital plan that went to council are there because they've been deemed a priority," said Liberson. "How did this new animal shelter become such a priority?"

Liberson said in 2005 staff submitted a proposal for a new shelter to be considered as part of the 2006-2008 capital plan. In July 2007, council refused to include the shelter in the 2006-2008 plan because there was no proposal and instead gave staff a budget of $500,000 to create a proposal. The cost of a new animal shelter was then estimated at $15 million.

This past January, Coun. Kim Capri brought a motion to council asking the proposal be included in the 2009-2011 capital plan. But Liberson said despite the proposal being incomplete, council unanimously agreed to have the new shelter included in the capital plan. Liberson requested information through the city's freedom of information office and found that only $5,000 of the $500,000 to create a new proposal had been allocated as of April.

She notes that page 15 of the 2009-2011 capital plan, document RTS07339 2009-2011 refers to a new "business model" for animal control services. Through another freedom of information request, Liberson was told there was no information available on the model. Through yet another request, Liberson then discovered the proposed cost for a new animal shelter had escalated to almost $31 million.

"So there is no business model and there is no plan, but in January council unanimously approved a $31 million shelter anyway," she said.

Liberson noted the request for a new shelter was made just a year after 16 new kennels were constructed in 2004 at a cost of more than $300,000.

According to the draft capital plan, the city's civic property department requested $30.5 million for a new facility, but only $18.5 million was approved by the capital plan staff review group. The draft capital plan includes water and sewage needs, road work, land acquisitions, building repairs, construction and replacement. Initially the rebuild of the Trout Lake Community Centre was included in the parks board's draft capital plan, but it was removed after reaching the city for approval. Because the 45-year-old community centre is slated for renewal, no major renovations or repairs have taken place in the last five years. It suffers from a rodent infestation, a roof which leaks in many areas of the building including the fitness centre, a hot tub that has been broken for years, ventilation and electrical systems not up to code and limited wheelchair accessibility.

Ken Bayne, manager of business planning and services for the city, said the capital plan staff review group received $700 million in requests from the city's various departments and had $485 million to work with.

He said policy on how the money is distributed allows staff to make priorities. He added facility maintenance, sewer and water, facilities and streets have top priority, and almost $160 million from this capital plan has been dedicated to those needs.

"So there's already pieces being chipped off the $485 million," he said.

As for Trout Lake, Bayne said no one is disputing it needs to be replaced, but he argued it doesn't need to be replaced immediately. He said the animal shelter building no longer meets the requirements needed to conduct business, so it was deemed a priority.

"It's a life cycle issue," he said.

A public meeting about the capital plan is scheduled for city hall Sept. 15 at 6 p.m. Council will approve the plan after the meeting, but residents will have the final say when they vote in the Nov. 15 municipal election.

http://www.canada.com/vancouvercourier/news/story.html?id=a8cd25ac-b6ac-4e2c-ba56-a0d935dc3f72

Chris Payne, president of the Trout Lake Community Centre, shows evidence of the centre's disrepair.
File photo-Dan Toulgoet