-Aquatic centre concept still at standstill-

OSOYOOS TIMES-November 26, 2008-

By Paul EverestrnOsoyoos Times

Time is almost up for a grant that was set aside more than two years ago for the creation of a splash park in Osoyoos.
The $60,000 Osoyoos Credit Union Community Legacy Grant was awarded to the Osoyoos Splash Park Committee in October, 2006.
But union manager Bill Collins said one of the conditions behind the grant was that the splash park project be completed by Dec. 31, 2008.
Collins said the union can't say what will happen to the money at the moment since the deadline hasn't officially expired but added that the board of directors will likely sit down in the new year to consider what to do with the grant money.
Hester Brunner, a Splash Park Committee member, said that with the deadline a little more than a month away and since the splash park idea has taken a back seat to a proposed aquatic centre concept that the Town of Osoyoos began looking at last year, the committee will be returning all monies donated for the purpose of getting the splash park project off the ground.
She said that in addition to the $60,000 grant, roughly another $10,000 was given to the committee from local community groups and organizations such as the Subaru Ironman.
Brunner added that having the splash park idea fizzle out in this way is frustrating, especially since the committee was formed at the request of the Town and Osoyoos and town council backed the committee's application for the grant.
I'm a little bitter about the whole thing, she said. I think it would have been lovely for our town.rnCouncil had spoken of holding a referendum on the splash park concept, which the committee had suggested would cost roughly $250,000, in February of last year.
In March, 2007, however, the Town began looking at the feasibility of an aquatic centre that would house a 90-square-metre leisure pool with four 25-metre lanesrnThe price tag for such a facility would have been about $6.3 million with an annual operating cost of roughly $500,000.
Holding a referendum for the aquatic centre idea was discussed by council but such a vote has not yet happened.
Mayor-elect Stu Wells was not available for comment last week, but at the Oct. 29 all-candidates forum held in Osoyoos, he did say he would consider revisiting the idea of holding a referendum on the aquatic centre.
He added, however, that he felt people could look to other forms of recreation during the shoulder seasons.
We don't have to swim year-round, let's go skiing, he said.
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