Members of Port Coquitlam's Wilson Centre can learn about planned changes to the seniors' facility at a meeting later this month.
Lori Bowie, PoCo's recreation director, will be on hand at the Feb. 20 session — from 10 a.m. to noon at Wilson Centre — to talk about how the popular space for those aged 50 and older will be affected by the redevelopment of the PoCo recreation complex. Other recreation staff will also be available at the coffee chat to address specific questions about interim and future programming.
"The new centre will have ample program space to accommodate the Wilson Centre programs," city spokesperson Pardeep Purewal told The Tri-City News today (Thursday). She added, "Some art programs may be moved to Leigh Square but no final decisions have been made."
The current Wilson Centre building — one of Metro Vancouver's largest seniors' centres and located inside the aging PoCo rec complex — is set to be demolished first as part of the rebuild, due to begin in mid-March.
The Wilson Centre programs, which draw residents from around Metro Vancouver, will move to other locations within the existing rec complex during the upgrade. For example, an interim multi-purpose space will be built in the lobby and the Green Room and youth centre will be renovated to accommodate programs.
As well, the current rec complex concession stand will be retrofitted with more prep space and commercial equipment "so we can continue with our daytime food service program," Purewal said.
Still, those taking ceramics and carving classes will be moved over to Leigh Square Community Arts Village, beside city hall.
Wilson Centre, which has a board that advises the city, has about 1,200 paid members. Besides it being a social and learning destination, Wilson Centre also hosts outside services such as blood pressure and foot clinics as well as government and income tax groups; those agencies will also have a home in the new Wilson Centre, Purewal said.
Last year, Wilson Centre cost the city about $455,500 to run, which was offset by $284,000 in revenues (leaving an operating deficit of about $171,500).
Ventana Construction is designing and building the 205,000-sq. ft. PoCo rec complex over the next four years at a cost of $132 million.
When complete, it will include a leisure pool, a third sheet of ice, fitness centre, Terry Fox Library, childcare facilities and an outdoor plaza. It's expected the first ice sheet will be ready by January 2019 and the entire project will wrap up in the summer of 2021.
• To stay up to date about the PoCo rec complex rebuild, sign up for electronic notifications at portcoquitlam.ca/reccomplex or follow the progress on Twitter using the hashtag #pocoreccomplex. Call 604-927-7529 for program information or 604-927-5420 for project details, or email [email protected].
