If the Regional District of Nanaimo stoked passions with last month’s survey on a recreational master plan for our area, the timing of Saturday’s referendum on an $80 million arena complex in Nanaimo must have landed like a splash of cold water.
Nanaimo voters, by an 80 per cent majority, resoundingly shot down the proposed development, which supporters say would have brought a major junior hockey team, big-name concerts and other economy-boosting events.
Meanwhile, Parksville Qualicum Beach-area athletes continue to get by with a running track that more resembles a Third-World livestock trail.
Local residents are being asked by the RDN for their input on a wide-ranging master plan for recreational priorities. In essence, it’s an opportunity to promote your wish lists for potential projects that could be a good fit for user groups here.
But for any such project to become reality, it will first have to clear the hurdle of funding approval — which Nanaimo voters showed can be a tall barrier indeed.
This is not the first such recreational master plan review. They happen every decade or so, and the last one produced recommendations for facilities ranging from an outdoor multiplex complete with turf field(s) to an expansion of Ravensong Aquatic Centre to a new aquatic centre in Parksville.
Ten years on, there has been no movement on any of those suggestions.
Beyond the benefit of daily use by local residents, the proper large-scale athletic facility can be — if properly utilized — an economic driver.
Oceanside Place Arena provides an example this week, as young hockey players from across the Island — and their families — arrive for a series of recreational tournaments, followed by the provincial championship for female midget hockey. In November, the ice will host the B.C. Figure Skating Championships during Remembrance Day weekend.
But other local associations who have put in the time and effort to secure bids to host provincial championships can do so only with outside help. Oceanside Minor Lacrosse will host this year’s bantam box lacrosse championships, but games will be split between Oceanside Place and the Nanaimo Ice Centre. Oceanside Minor Softball will also host the provincial U16 championship, but all of the games will be played on Nanaimo fields because we lack the minimum number of diamonds.
That is a shortcoming the community may be willing to live with. One person’s desperately needed running track is another’s frivolous boondoggle. Whatever might be proposed for Parksville Qualicum Beach will not require an $80-million request. But there would be a cost.
What are you willing to contribute?
— Parksville Qualicum Beach News
