INNISFAIL - The Innisfail Kinsmen and Kinette Club of Innisfail are applying for a $476,000 provincial grant that will cover half of the estimated cost of the new skatepark the town has pledged to build next year.
The sought after provincial Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) grant is hoped to match the town's confirmed contribution of $392,123, which includes the $155,590 budget allocation from the Skatepark Reserve fund and an additional $236,533 from the General Capital Reserve fund, and the service clubs' $57,877 contribution, monies collected from fundraising and donations.
Council approved the service clubs' application request at its regular meeting on Sept. 24, which was attended by senior service club members.
In a report prepared by Meghan Jenkins, the town's development coordinator, council was reminded it approved resolutions on Aug. 13 to move forward with the skatepark construction in 2019, a state-of-the-art project that has an overall preliminary total budget of more than $1 million. That includes the cost of moving the horseshoe pits from their current location near the intersection of 42nd Street and 51st Avenue to a Rotary Park area between the current men’s ball diamond and the playground. Since then, council was told, staff has been working with the Kinsmen and Kinette clubs on an application for a provincial CFEP grant.
Council was told the service clubs want to apply under the large stream CFEP grant program prior to the Oct. 1 deadline. The large stream program provides for matching grants of between $125,001 and $1 million to either construct, repair, expand or renovate sports, recreational, cultural or other types of public use community facilities.
If the service clubs are unsuccessful with the large stream CFEP grant application they could reapply this coming May for a small stream grant, which provides for a maximum amount of $125,000, council was told.
Mayor Jim Romane said last week he is adamant the town must proceed with a top-of-the-line skatepark for Innisfail youth, even if that means dipping further into town coffers.
"I would support it myself but I can't speak for all of council," said Romane. "I am not in favour of going with an inferior product. That is just not in my thoughts.
"I still say we go ahead with it and we look at surpluses from last year that haven't been used or allocated yet. Let's not cheap out on this thing. It's not right to do it that way," he said, adding there are other strategies as well, like seeking possible financial support from Red Deer County. "We will find it (money). I can't say for sure where, but we will find it somewhere."
In the meantime, Russ Klemmer, president of the Kinsmen, said his club will continue to fundraise and secure in-kind donations to reduce the town's final contribution. He said the Kinsmen have set a goal to raise an additional $20,000.
The next fundraiser specific to the skatepark project will be the 2019 Weekend of Wheels event. He said the Kinsmen raised just over $4,500 from last month's successful Weekend of Wheels.
"Our best year yet," he said of the recent fundraiser, adding monies from other service club fundraising events could also go towards the skatepark project. "It depends on how much we raise, because we don't want to take away from the funding of other things we do throughout the year, but if we have additional funds available then I would propose we could put them towards the skatepark."
