New Westminster still planning for Arenex replacement

Royal City residents are appealing to the city to build a replacement for the Queen’s Park Arenex sooner rather than later.

Participants in gymnastics, trampoline and other programs once offered at the Arenex took that message to city council Monday night, urging the city to act on plans to build a bubble facility in Queen’s Park. Before its roof collapsed under the weight of snow on Dec. 19, 2016, the Arenex was home to a variety of programs including gymnastics, trampoline, children's drop-ins, badminton, indoor soccer, volleyball, ball hockey, basketball and pickleball.

Eleni Papakyriakopoulos said Shasta Trampoline Club is offering its programs at the Vancouver Circus School and the city’s gymnastics programs are being offered at the Royal City Curling Club – for now.

“We don’t have a permanent place to stay,” she said. “We are in a little bit of a tough spot. We just want to have somewhere to call our home.”

Last year, the city approved a $3.5-million budget for a new “bubble” structure in Queen’s Park that would provide space for Arenex programs. It’s proposed to be built on the reservoir/tennis courts near the stadium.

“Regrettably, the tender process that we went through over the past winter did face some challenges and we haven’t been able to successfully move forward,” said Mayor Jonathan Cote. “Early indications are that staff have been able to address those challenges and will be reporting back to council within the next month, and hopefully be able to move forward as quickly as possible because I think we all want to see a proper home.”

New West resident Dave Wilkinson said 2,200 kids went through programs at the Arenex each week, before its roof collapsed 17 months ago. He said recreational program and community programs like the Motoring Munchkins parent-tot drop-in are extremely valuable to the community.

“We really need that building quick,” he said.

New Westminster resident Linda Lemieux said the Royal City Curling Club has been a wonderful home for the gymnastics programs, but it’s only available until September.

“With every month that goes by, you are losing the talent and you are losing the core group of instructors that make the programs so amazing. You are losing that knowledge,” said Queensborough resident Bernadette Gourlay. “I am in human resources – once knowledge walks out the door it is so hard to get it back.

Dean Gibson, the city’s director of parks and recreation, said plans to build an interim structure for Arenex programs are “alive and well” and staff will be reporting to council on those plans later this month or in early June.

“We did go out and were seeking proposals towards the end of 2017 for the replacement of that particular project. That process did not pan out in quite the way we had hoped it would,” he said. “We encountered a significant number of challenges which has given us pause to re-scope and reflect on how we might be able to move forward with the project in a way that respond to the needs of the community and in the abilities of the city.”

Meanwhile, the proposed facility may be getting some company on its future home in Queen’s Park.

Last June, city council approved the development of a 24,000-square-foot facility consisting of a stretched fabric membrane over a rigid frame, similar to the Poirier Forum in Coquitlam. In addition to building “the bubble” facility on the old tennis courts/reservoir site near Queen’s Park Stadium, the plan included modular buildings for washrooms, change areas and administrative areas.

During the same timeframe, the city has been working on plans to replace the skate park at Mercer Stadium, which is being demolished to pave the way for construction of a new New Westminster Secondary School. While staff had recommended the new skate park be built on the former Arenex site, council prefers it be built on the tennis courts/former reservoir land if it’s technically feasible – the same site where the interim replacement facility for the Arenex is planned to go.

So, what does that mean for the bubble?

“In the last short while we have received information indicating that both of those facilities can actually fit on that site. It’s a large enough site,” said Mayor Jonathan Cote. “One of the reasons it wasn’t considered earlier was concern that you wouldn’t be able to get both of those facilities on the site, and new information has indicated they should be able to accommodate both those.”