The Town of Bowden has retained an Edmonton-based consulting firm to look at the feasibility of building a community centre in the town.
RC Strategies Inc. will carry out a “facility needs assessment and feasibility study” over the next few months focusing on whether Bowden can afford a community centre and whether residents want such a facility.
Bowden council agreed to retain the firm's services during a closed committee meeting on March 25.
Andy Weiss, the town's chief administrative officer, said in its deliberations about going forward with the study, council wanted assurances that the project would be a “community-driven initiative as opposed to what the consultant might feel was important for our community.”
He added the town wants as many “key stakeholders,” such as residents, businesses and community groups, involved in the study as possible.
The study will cost the town just under $10,000 and that money was set aside during council's 2013 capital budget negotiations.
Weiss said he expects the firm to complete the study by mid-summer and council will then consider its findings.
If a community centre is to be built, he added, it would be a “fairly modest” community hall that “meets the needs of the community” and would not include exercise facilities.
And although the town has also set up “very small” reserves for the development of a community centre, it would need financial help from other organizations to pay for such a facility.
“There is going to need to be community help in the funding end of things or this community centre simply won't be built,” Weiss said. “No matter what the numbers come back as, the town itself cannot afford to fund it on its own.
“We need the assistance of both grant funding and community support within the community and the business community to help pay for it.”
Right now, the town has not chosen a specific location for a community centre and no timeline for its construction, should council ever approve its development, has been finalized.
Weiss said the firm's assessment report will include possible sites in town for the centre as well as basic timelines for its development and construction.
Once such details are known, he said, council will be in a position to start making decisions on whether the centre will be built.
