Ambitious three-year plan for Vancouver’s Park Board

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Vancouver’s Park Board is going to have to carefully pick and choose what it’s going to accomplish over the next three years.

The board has about $67 million to play with, but could use about twice that.

“What’s collectively on the City Capital Plan is $70 million more than what’s been budgeted for,” says Park Board Chair Aaron Jasper, adding the biggest project is replacing the existing Marpole Community Centre, which will cost $17 million.

“There is a real need in that neighbourhood for not just community centre, but for other services,” he tells News1130.

The Bloedel Conservatory – which was at risk of shutting down last year but saved in the eleventh hour by a Park Board vote – also needs a new roof.

“We are proposing to spend $500,000 on the restoration of [Stanley Park’s] Beaver Lake, $1 million on the first phase of improvements on the Bloedel Conservatory, and also doing [Queen Elizabeth] Park renewal,” Jasper says.

Hastings Park is also due for a new synthetic field.

“In total that’s $8.4 million,” Jasper says. “About half of that is going to be tied into Empire Field in terms of… converting it back to community use.”

The draft plan will be presented next Monday, and public consultations will be held over the next couple of months to find out what citizens think really needs to get done.

The final Capital Plan has to be in by the end of September.

To register to have your say at a Park Board meeting, visit http://vancouver.ca/parks/board/index.htm, or call 604-257-8453.

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