Most Vancouver community centres in ‘poor’ condition but repairs could be decades away: report

The Vancouver Aquatic Centre, which had its facade partially collapse last month, is not a part of this plan as pools are categorized differently.

A new report from the City of Vancouver has found more than half of the community centres in the city are either in “poor” or “very poor” condition.

A plan approved at the Vancouver Park Board meeting Monday night will see the city attempt to repair just 11 of its 24 facilities within the next 20 years; meaning some listed in “poor” condition won’t be prioritized for decades.

But even that seems to be an optimistic goal.

Within the report, city staff acknowledges that “it is unlikely that funding will exist to renew all of these facilities in that timeframe”.

The needed repairs vary in nature, but among them are important seismic upgrades.

“I’m seeing that, let’s say an earthquake hit,” said Commissioner Tricia Barker. “There’s a whole side of the city who we don’t have a community centre that’s at a seismic level, that we would need”.

That part of the city is the west side, which is not even represented in the top four facilities that city staff are planning to prioritize.

Kensington Community Centre was identified as most in need of work, followed closely by Renfrew, Hastings and Strathcona.