City of Burnaby blames new BC government policy for inability to fund $215 million Confederation Park Community Centre

The plan to build the new Confederation Park Community Centre in North Burnaby could have to wait.

In a new report this week, staff with the City of Burnaby are recommending to Burnaby City Council that the project be put on hold due to the “lack of available funding for the work.” City Council will consider this recommendation in a public meeting early next week.

Their rationale is not due to inflated market costs for construction equipment, labour, and materials, but rather because the municipal government’s planned funding stream — the long-running Community Benefit Bonus Reserve — has insufficient funding.

The Government of British Columbia’s new legislation introducing the Amenity Cost Charge (ACC) tool for municipal governments replaces Burnaby’s previous funding tool that collects fees from developers to fund such community amenity projects. The new ACC changes how local governments across BC are able to fund such community amenities and infrastructure.

City staff state that because the ACC is brand new, the tool has yet to amass any pool of funding to support the total $215 million cost of building the Confederation Park Community Centre.

“No ACC funding has been collected to date to fund this growth portion of the Confederation Park Community Centre. As ACC funds are generated from developer contributions, the timing of the collections of these funds are uncertain,” reads the City staff report.

“As per legislation, ACCs are only permitted to fund the growth component of a capital project; therefore, the remaining costs will need to be funded by the City outside of ACC revenues.”

Confederation Park Community Centre Burnaby

Artistic rendering of the preliminary concept for Confederation Park Community Centre. (Revery Architecture/City of Burnaby)

City staff estimate that due to the ACC, there is currently a funding gap of $31.2 million for building the project. This amount would have to be collected from ACCs or funded directly by the City through an identified alternative funding strategy.

In January 2023, the City awarded the first phase work contract for the project, worth $50 million.

City staff are currently specifically recommending deferring the project and not awarding the phase two work contract to actually build the complex. This phase two contract is worth $142.6 million, plus a $12.6 million contingency allowance for unexpected construction costs in phase two. The GST of $10.26 million is also part of the total project cost.

The project’s design is complete, and the phase two work contract award was timed to enable a construction start in Fall 2024.

To date, about $20 million has been spent on feasibility studies, design and design revisions, and project management.

It is estimated that construction costs will increase by about 7% for the next five years. If City Council defers the project by five years, it could cost about $82 million more to build.

“If Council provides direction to defer this project, all planning activities will cease and current contracts will be terminated,” state City staff in their report.

Future site of Confederation Park Community Centre. (Google Maps)

Confederation Park Community Centre Burnaby 15

Future site of Confederation Park Community Centre. (Google Maps)

Designed by Revery Architecture, the new Confederation Park Community Centre will be located within Confederation Park at the northeast corner of the intersection of Willingdon Avenue and Albert Street, just north of Hastings Street, within the Capitol Hill neighbourhood. It will replace the existing 1971-built under-sized community centre, and retain and integrate with the adjacent 2001-built Burnaby Public Library McGill Branch and 1992-built Eileen Dailly Leisure Pool and Fitness Centre.

The new replacement and expanded community centre will include two gymnasiums, a fitness centre with weights and cardio equipment, a dedicated seniors’ facility with a snooker room, a childcare facility, a childminding facility (a short-term childcare facility while parents exercise), multipurpose and meeting rooms, and a cafe.

This will be a new three-storey building, with a pair of arc-shaped two-storey volumes separated by a site-wide pedestrian promenade — all sitting above a large first floor.

A glass-enclosed pedestrian bridge, hovering above the promenade, links the arcs together from the third floor.

Artistic rendering of the preliminary concept for Confederation Park Community Centre. (Revery Architecture/City of Burnaby)

The pedestrian promenade begins from a large plaza at the intersection, before rising to the second level and cutting diagonally through the building to reach the existing athletics track, soccer field, and the rest of the 100-acre public park. The plaza and promenade combined effectively provide a new grand entrance into the park.

The City of Burnaby is entering a building boom cycle for new publicly-owned and operated community and recreational centres to meet the changing needs of its growing population. But due to pandemic-induced market inflation, the costs have greatly increased since the projects were first envisioned and budgeted years ago.

After recently sending the new Burnaby Lake Recreation Complex back to the drawing board for a downsized design to enable a smaller budget of $253 million, construction began earlier this month. As well, the existing Cameron Recreation Complex in Lougheed Town Centre closed earlier this month to enable demolition and site preparation work for the new replacement and expanded complex for a cost of $267 million.

Burnaby’s municipal government has also been publicly at odds with the provincial government over various new housing legislations, including the ACC and transit-oriented development.