Park board to hear recommendation on upgrading Marpole-Oakridge community centre

On Monday, the Vancouver park board will hear a motion concerning the “renewal” of the Marpole-Oakridge community centre.

The building at 990 West 59th Avenue, built in 1949, is the oldest community centre in Vancouver, and discussions about upgrading have been taking place for 16 years, according to the motion by board commissioner Sarah Kirby-Yung.

The report states that a growing population in the area, as well as a new Canada Line station being built at Cambie Street and 57th Avenue, as reasons the upgrading is necessary.

“I ran in 2014, and the community desperately wanted it then,” Kirby-Yung remembered in a phone call to the Straight. "Capital funding was identified, and it disappeared. Now the area is growing so dramatically.”

Last year, when the centre was rumoured to be on the move farther south, to Granville Street and 70th Avenue, residents balked and protested, a fact that Kirby-Yung attributed to the growing influx of people into the east of the area.

“Svnty-five percent of the incoming population is going to be along Cambie. And the centre, where it is now, is in the midway point of the community, so it makes sense that it would stay in that location.”

The staff recommendation calls for the “expansion of existing daycare, a senior’s centre, synthetic field, lit track, rink or a pool as determined through the public consultation process.”

Among those, Kirby-Yung said, she would really like to see two amenities, in particular, adopted. “The public has made it loud and clear that they want a senior’s facility, similar to what we’re doing in Killarney Centre,” she said, referencing the $5.9-million contract that the Killarney Community Centre Association secured.

Her other suggestion is an outdoor pool: “Marpole used to have an outdoor pool, and I think it needs a new one.”