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Church, city team up for housing

Unique Port Moody project includes new church, services and rental accommodation

= By AMANDA POOLE

ort Moody has put half P: million dollars of city

money to support a novel housing project that will create 55 low-cost apartments, a new church and a social-services cen- tre.

The unique $25-million project is coming to fruition because St. Andrew’s United Church donated its land and the city contributed more than half of its affordable housing fund.

“I think it’s the new way we have to engage in order to accomplish what we want to accomplish,” said Julie Lebrun, the minister at St. Andrew’s United Church.

Mayor Mike Clay said the proj- ect is the result of good partner- ships among many agencies and will help Port Moody meet some of the growing demand for low- cost housing.

“Affordable housing is an im- portant issue for council and for Port Moody residents,” Clay said.

Built in 1957, St. Andrew’s United Church will be demol- ished and rebuilt into three sec- tions that will included a new church, an office space and pro- gram centre for Kinsight and

“I think it’s the new way we have to engage in order to accomplish what we want to accomplish,”

—JULIELEBRUN, MINISTER OF ST. ANDREW'S UNITED CHURCH

housing on 2318 St. Johns Street off the Barnet Highway.

‘The eligible applicants for the development will be people from low- to moderate-income house- holds earning from $30,000 to $68,000 a year. The rentals will start at $750 per month for studio suites and $1,700 per month for three-bedroom suites.

Four of the units will be allo- cated for those with developmen- tal delays and disabilities who receive support from Kinsight, a non-profit society that works with people to increase their indepen- dence.

“This is one of three new devel- opments but this one is particular- ly interesting and unique in terms of partnerships,” said Christine Scott, CEO of Kinsight.

Construction is scheduled to start January 2019.

The shortage of affordable hous- ing has been an ongoing issue for Vancouver residents but is also hitting other regions of Metro Vancouver, Port Moody being one of them.

THURSDAY, OCT. 18,2018 |

EDITOR NEIL AMSLER

Atlarge

Some Richmond residents say the Richmond Oval vacuums up ip city money that could go to other community centres that are short of hot water and staff. The city says the oval receives fewer dollars per square foot than the other centres. 808 MATHESON VIA GLOTMAN SIMPSON CONSULTING ENGINEERS SUBMITTED PHOTO

Oval's dollars questioned

Richmond commnulty centres starved for cash

= By GABRIELLE PLONKA

Richmond mayoral

candidate is calling for

more information about

the finances of the Olympic Oval Corporation, reig- niting a decade-long controversy over the oval’s claims of being independently profitable despite benefiting from millions of tax- payer dollars.

The oval corporation, chaired by the City of Richmond’s admin- istrative officer, George Duncan, claimed a surplus of $1.2 million in 2017, which meant that one-third of taxpayer contributions to the oval were placed in its reserves — and unavailable for use by the city’s other cash-strapped community centres, says Donald Flintoff.

City officials have always said that the oval provides a valuable amenity to Richmond residents and so deserves taxpayer support.

But Flintoff believes that if the oval claims to be a profitable cor- poration, even though it’s func- tioning as a city community centre, there should be some separation

from public funding and city of- ficials.

“If I were to win [the mayoral election] on Saturday, there would be a lot of questions asked,” Flint- off said.

As of December 2017, the oval

reported an -—

oval’s generous funding for the dis- crepancies.

At Thompson Community Cen- tre, where Flintoff serves on the board, Flintoff echoed complaints of no hot water for the showers, as well as no air conditioning during

— last summer’s

accumulated . heat wave.

surplus of “If I were to win on “People are p67 mil | Saturday, there would | compitining, same ap- be a lot of questions would assume

proximate amount as city contri- butions in the last five years at $3 million in contributions annually.

There is also question of whether the high contributions of taxpayer money to the oval are to blame for the lack of resources at other Rich- mond community centres.

In a Sept. 28 letter to the Rich- mond News, Richmond resident Bruce Neil described worn-out turf fields, cold shower water, dirty change rooms and lack of staffing at Hugh Boyd, Minoru and Rich-

mond ice centres. Neil blamed the

asked.”

— DONALD FLINTOFF, RICHMOND MAYORAL CANDIDATE

that if the oval is taking up a lot of money, then somebody isn’t getting a lot of money.”

Richmond’s director of corporate communications, Ted Townsend, said in an email that the oval re- ceives fair annual contributions “just like every other civic facility in Richmond.”

In Townsend’s provided break- down, the oval receives less in city funding for its size than other community centres at $8.79 per square foot, while other commu- nity centres get more than $20 a square foot.

INFO STATS CIRCLES SUBHEADING

58% of the oval's 2017 expenses attributed to salaries and benefits

1/3 of annual taxpayer contribu- tions are placed in reserves

The Oval receives 18% of Rich- mond's Community Associations, Arenas and Aquatics contributions

SOURCE: CITY OF RICHMOND

Surrey rivals clash over L

Breakaway party wants to pause transit planning

= By NIKITHA MARTINS

Cres from Surrey’s new breakaway party chal- lenging the ruling Surrey First say they will involve resi- dents in a new round of decision- making about whether the city should opt for streetcar-style lines versus new SkyTrain lines.

Avi Dhaliwal, an Integrity Now city council candidate, said that while the party does favour

SkyTrain technology, its coun- cil members wouldn’t shut down the current planning process for light rail completely, but would pause the project until a decision a majority of residents are satisfied with can be made.

“We're not saying we're going to go ahead and just scrap the LRT and put a Skylrain and push that down people’s throats,” Dhaliwal said.

Integrity Now includes a few candidates who broke away from Surrey First, including Bruce Hayne and Coun. Barbara Steele.

‘Ihe Surrey First party, which has ruled the city for more than a decade, decided in 2012 un- der then-mayor Dianne Watts to support light-rapid transit lines

to Newtown and Guildford, and then a similar line from Surrey to Langley. But that plan, for which the federal government has con- tributed $1.65 billion, has become increasingly controversial.

Surrey First’s Tom Gill says that the party will proceed with the first phase of the planned light-rail lines.

Another leading candidate, former mayor Doug McCallum from Safe Surrey Coalition, says he would scrap light rail and get the federal government to put the money instead into SkyTrain down Fraser Highway to Langley.

Proudly Surrey council can- didate Felix Kongyuy believes that the LRT project cannot be

changed now, because of the fun-

Doug McCallum susmirrep PHOTO

ing that has already been given to the project for use.

“Residents need to know that the federal funding and the pro- vincial funding which is for this LRT project, cannot be moved onto another project,” Kongyuy said.