Coquitlam is going to chase after multi-millions of dollars from the senior governments to help pay to replace Place Maillardville community centre even though the city has included the project in its upcoming budgets.
On Monday (Dec. 3), council decided the city will apply to the $134-million initial stream of community, culture and recreation grants to be handed out by the federal and provincial governments next year. Coquitlam is asking for $13.4 million to go toward the $20.8 million replacement project. Although the program allows for grant money for up to 73% of a project’s total cost — which in Place Maillardville’s case would be $15.18 million — it also limits requests to 10% of the money available in the fund.
Part of the deal is the city must cover the rest of the costs beyond the grant — in this case $7.4 million — including any cost overruns.
But back in April, council approved $20 million toward the project as well as an additional $1.2 million for an adjacent park and plaza, although that project is not eligible for the grant. City staff has asked for another $2 million for the project in the 2019 budget bringing the total funding available to $22 million which will provide a contingency fund for any cost over-runs, said the report. If the city gets the grant the already allocated money would be returned to the original reserves it came from.
The deadline for applications is Jan. 23, 2019. Projects are supposed to be completed by March 31, 2024, but the city said the anticipated construction completion for the community centre replacement is sometime in 2021.
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