Hub Staff

Saugeen Shores Council carried a motion on Monday evening to waive rental fees for a New Year's Eve fundraising event for the Saugeen Shores Splash Pad but deferred a second motion for financial commitment towards the splash pad until the new year.

Amy Shute of the Saugeen Shores Splash Pad Committee, who hopes to have a splash pad built north of the Port Elgin Harbour adding onto the two existing washrooms to create change rooms, brought the plans to the Committee of the Whole meeting December 15.

“At this time, with only two fundraisers and one major donor, the Port Elgin Lion's Club, we sit at approximately $125,000,” said Shute, adding that they are aiming to raise another $10,000 at their now sold-out New Year's Eve event and between $15,000 and $20,000 at their Children’s Festival in July. “With just these few community events we will have achieved 38 percent of our fundraising goal,” explained Shute.

She showed council an image of the proposed 500 square meter splash pad, which she said had 20 different water features and was based on a $400,000 budget. It was the committee's goal to complete the fundraising portion by the end of 2016, at which point they would turn the funds over to the municipality and begin construction.

“We request that the municipality take over maintenance costs once the pad is complete, which are anticipated to be between $8,000 and $10,000 annually.

“We feel as though we can rely on government funding and grants for another 20 percent or $80,000.” Shute added, “We are here tonight asking for a contribution from the municipality of 33 percent of total costs ($120,000). However, we would greatly appreciate any and all decisions made to support this project.”

The motion moved by Councillor Neil Menage and seconded by Councillor John Rich read that the project location would make use of or require only a modification to an existing washroom building and that the projected annual operating costs would be controlled to less than $20,000 per year for the first five years.

The motion also said that council authorizes a maximum of 40 percent of the total cost as a municipal supporting grant and that the project based on a new construction cost is not to exceed $400,000; and that staff adds $160,000 into the 2016 budget as a placeholder for final approval of construction in the 2017 budget.

Although council was very much in favour of the idea of a splash pad, some concerns were raised with regard to needing more information before moving ahead with the project.

“There's a couple things I think need to be looked at,” said Councillor Don Matheson. “We're looking at the washroom itself, the existing facility, will it be big enough to accommodate the numbers of people that might be there? I think we need a staff report on that.” He continued, “The operating costs ranged anywhere from $30,000 to $40,000 depending on the location... since this is part of the possible waterfront master plan, could these funds come out of the waterfront master plan that will be budgeted and approved at a later date?”

Mayor Mike Smith echoed the support and, conversely, the concerns that had been raised. “Council has never stood in the way of community groups. We've built accessible playgrounds, we've built skateboard parks, we've built all kinds of things in this community,” said Smith. “There's a number of issues in here that I think need to be flushed out,” said Smith, adding, “I can assure you that I support the splash pad.”

Councillor Mike Myatt included a motion to defer, requesting an official staff report which included the following points: precise site being recommended, a detailed plan including features, projected operation costs; total construction costs; funds raised to date; fundraising plans; and finally, a detail of municipal contributions.

Deputy Mayor Luke Charbonneau seconded the motion.

“We were happy with the first step,” said Shute, after she left council chambers. “The waving of the fees and it did look like council definitely supported the idea and then the secondary discussion of the actual splash pad commitment was discouraging I think for everyone that was here in attendance tonight.

“I just wonder how long it's going to take for us to receive [commitment]. I don't know if our committee that's full of full time professionals and young moms, I don't know how long we can commit to working without a commitment from council,” Shute continued.

“We've got our New Year's Eve event happening at the Plex on the 31st and then in January we'll sit down as a group and decide where we think were going to go from here.”