The majority of North Cariboo residents that took part in a survey prefer a full renovation and upgrade of the pool at the Quesnel Rec Centre.
1,134 on-line surveys and paper surveys were collected between mid May and July 31st of this year.
Richard Gauthier, the City’s Recreation Manager, went over the results at Tuesday night’s North Cariboo Joint Advisory Committee meeting in Quesnel.
“Option three had 61.8 percent, and if you’re familiar with option three, it was pretty much the full meal deal with the expansion, water slide, so on and so forth.”
That option carries a price tag of 34.4 million dollars.
19.5 percent supported option two which is the upgrades and expansion without the water slide for 30.7 million, 9.3 percent preferred option one which is just the upgrades for 12.6 million dollars.
9.3 percent also said that they didn’t support any of the options.
Mayor Bob Simpson noted that these costs have escalated.
“We’ve gone from an original price of 17.5 million in 2016 or 2017 when we were putting it in for grants, where we’ve now doubled in price.”
Simpson says the key message for the elected leadership is the more you dither, the more it costs.
Mary Sjostrom, the Cariboo Regional District Director for Area A, says she was not surprised by the results.
“Not really because I attended all three of the open houses and there were a lot of positives there.”
Sjostom was asked if this makes the case to hold another referendum.
“Well it’s really hard to tell. I’m not sure that it’s the right time, but then when is the right time ? And then with the escalating of costs, so I think that we need to give the opportunity for a second time, and lets hear what the people have to say because ultimately it’s up to the taxpayer.”
The committee is committed to hold another referendum on the proposed project by the end of April of next year.
The committee also voted last night to have staff prepare a report on a referendum question.
The first vote failed back in June of 2021 by a vote of 1,001 to 941.
Getting back to the survey, 51.6 percent of respondents were from CRD Areas A,B,C and I, and 47.3 percent of respondents were from the City of Quesnel.
77.1 percent were women, compared to just 20.4 percent men.
And most of the respondents, 37.2 percent, were between the ages of 31 and 40.
24.1 percent were between 41 and 55.
The majority of the respondents were pool users.
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