City of Powell River’s committee of the whole has requested a staff report to examine a request from qathet Pickleball Association (qPA) for a city land lease to house a pickleball centre.
At the November 19 committee of the whole meeting, qPA president Susan Young made a presentation to the committee. Her association provided a detailed request outlining its desire to seek a land lease agreement in order to build a dedicated eight-court indoor pickleball facility for qathet Regional District community members.
Young also made a presentation at a committee of the whole meeting last month.
Correspondence from qPA indicated that the organization is seeking approximately 1.25 acres of land and that the property it is currently pursuing is adjacent to the upper parking lot of Powell River Recreation Complex. The correspondence indicated that qPA needs a building site in order to begin fundraising for the project.
City councillor Trina Isakson asked Young about the different pockets of indoor pickleball in the community. Young said there are four courts at Oceanview Education Centre and four courts at Powell River Racquet Centre, which will be closing down.
“If we actually got them together under one roof, it would make things more simple,” said Young.
Councillor Jim Palm said this is exciting for the community. He said the growing nature of the activity is known, as is the value pickleball has for the senior population.
“This is something that is long overdue,” said Palm. “We know there is a great need.”
Palm said he was going to refer to staff for a further update on where staff thinks the committee should go from here.
City chief administrative officer Lisa Bhopalsingh said the committee had the opportunity to give direction to staff. She said one of the key items is that a particular spot at the recreation complex had been identified, but there was openness to other considerations and locations.
“For staff, doing something like this requires staff time, which takes away from other priorities, but this is your opportunity to determine your priorities,” said Bhopalsingh.
She added that an assessment of feasibility and implications could be made, and whether the city should own and operate the facility versus partnership with another entity.
“The first part would be for council to direct staff to invest time and resources into feasibility, and are there other options we haven’t considered?” said Bhopalsingh. “Do you want to allocate staff time for a feasibility study so we can come back, work collaboratively with the partnership group, and what are the options we can look at?”
Bhopalsingh added that there are finite staffing resources.
Councillor George Doubt said he wanted to make a motion to refer qPA’s correspondence to staff for a report for the request made in the letter, including the property mentioned and any other suitable properties, and bring that back to council.
Councillor Cindy Elliott said she thought it might be prudent to have the motion be addressed at a future committee meeting, so there could be time to consider questions about staff priorities.
“I don’t believe we have enough information about projects that could be impacted by making this a staff priority,” added Elliott.
Councillor Rob Southcott said he trusted staff to judge how to fit this in, so he did not feel a motion to postpone was necessary.
“I trust staff’s ability to prioritize,” added Southcott.
Councillor and committee chair Earl Almeida said he had recently played pickleball for the first time and he’s a big supporter of recreation. He said his one big concern is where the community is without having a full plan for recreation as a whole. He said while the land qPA wants is available now, the city is awaiting a report on its pool.
“We don’t know the status of the pool and whether we can keep it where it is, or whether a new pool might need to be built,” said Almeida. “As soon as one facility goes up, it means that land can’t be used for something else. Once we get that pool report, it could lead to a domino of other things happening that could open up the beginning stages of a recreation plan.
“I’m not opposed to the growth of pickleball, I just think this might be slightly premature on its own without having a plan that encompasses everything. I can’t support the motion as it stands but I want to see something happen over time.”
Council passed the motion for a staff report, with Almeida opposed.
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