Chuck Hambling, the organizer of the petition asking Barrhead town council to take a second look at the aquatic centre project, said he is satisfied, not only with the result of the petition, but its affect.
On June 24, Chuck Hambling and Manfred John officially submitted the petition with 513 signatures, not in hopes to derail the aquatic centre project altogether, but to delay the project to see what efficiencies could be gained.
In order for the petition to succeed, under the guidelines of Alberta’s Municipal Government Act (MGA), petitioners needed 10 per cent or 443 of the electors to sign the petition.
After receiving the petition, Martin Taylor, Barrhead’s chief administrative officer, had 30 days to determine if the petition was valid. In a special town council meeting on July 21, Taylor told council he found the petition to be indeed valid, with 458 signatures meeting the criteria.
Hambling said there is a misconception in the community that he and the other people who signed the petition are against a pool being built in Barrhead.
“That’s not the case. I believe we need a pool, but what I am not in favour of is having a pool as large and extravagant as the one they (Barrhead town council) had proposed,” he said, adding it is his opinion that the large majority of people who signed the petition are of the same mindset.
In its current configuration the new aquatic centre would include a 25-metre, six lane competition pool, a 40 person hot tub, a zero entry shallow pool, and a lazy river feature. The total construction cost for the aquatic centre is slated to be $13 million. Although the project’s architectural firm, BR2, believes that due to the current economic climate, the cost may be as low as $11 million.
In December, the town and county of Barrhead agreed to contribute $5 million each towards the capital cost of the facility. Any shortfall would be made up by a combination of fundraising by the Agrena Society and by government and private grants.
Hambling said he also wants to make sure people know exactly what they will be voting on.
Before the town received the petition, council was in the middle of the process of passing bylaw 05-2015, a borrowing debenture bylaw, that would have allowed the town to borrow its portion of the construction cost for the aquatic centre. On May 26 council unanimously approved first reading of the bylaw and council was slated to give it second and third reading on June 26, before they were interrupted by the petition submission.
“The voting populace needs to know that a yes vote means that council can go ahead and borrow $5 million and spend the $13 million needed to build the pool,” he said.
However, he said proponents of the pool have made it seem that a no vote means that people are voting against building an aquatic centre.
The question council will be asking voters in the October referendum is:
“Do you support bylaw 05-2015, the Barrhead Regional Aquatic Center Debenture Borrowing bylaw, to allow the Town of Barrhead to borrow up to $5 million for the construction of a new aquatic center? Yes or No?”
“A no vote saying ‘no we don’t want you to spend the $5 million’ does not mean no pool,” Hambling said. “What it means is that we need to go back to the drawing board and come up with a plan for a more reasonably priced structure that suits the needs of the people of Barrhead.”
Hambling explained the reason he organized the petition is to give council and residents a second chance to consider if they want the aquatic centre as it is currently proposed.
“We exercised our democratic right to question the decision made by council, and we had the appropriate number of taxpayers sign the petition and now we are going to have a referendum,” he said. “If the people of Barrhead want to spend $13 million on the aquatic centre than get out there and say that. But make sure you understand what you are voting for.”
