Future plans for what will become of the former Vernon Kin Race Track have hit a speed bump.
Formerly thought to be a new, large-scale athletic park, city administration is now recommending it be turned into a passive park, according to a report to council on Monday, Jan. 27.
In 2022, the parklands at the Kin Race Track were identified as a potential site for a large-scale Athletic Park, with proposed amenities such as artificial turf fields, ball diamonds and multi-sport courts. However, after a planning process update in 2023, numerous constraints popped up, impacting the feasibility of developing it into an Athletic Park.
"The site has significant environmental and drainage challenges related to the high groundwater table," a report to council stated. "From a financial perspective, the environmental constraints make the development of high-intensity sports fields and their associated infrastructure, such as parking lots and amenity buildings, costly."
Total costs would be estimated at around $50 million, excluding project risks, design features and inflation. As a result, city administration recommended to council that the area be turned into a passive park.
"The park will feature trails, interpretive areas, the site's environmental features, natural drainage patterns across the site and allow areas for seasonal flooding," the report stated.
Currently, there are nearly $4.5 million in uncommitted funds in the Kin Race Track Park Reserve.
This decision by administration sparked debate among Vernon councillors.
"My thoughts are just to wait and not put anything there right now," said Coun. Akbal Mund. "I would like to see something put there, like a pump track or at least one field."
In the report to council by Larissa Price, manager of Park Projects and Communitiy Initiatives, she referred to a study showing that Vernon has "lots of fields compared to other areas," which would minimize the need for a new athletic park.
Coun. Kari Gares disagreed.
"People are already using the lands to walk in its natural scape," she said. "If we leave it natural, we don't have to invest in the passive park. If we use the $4.5 million, where will we get that money to reinvest in sporting fields? We have lots of fields, but we have capacity issues. We committed to turn that area into a sporting field."
Gares also cited her own experience in the sports sector, with teams wanting to continue playing past Oct. 10 (when staff shuts down fields across the city), but not being able to because of the lack of artificial fields.
"We can't host tournaments because we don't have lighted fields," added Mund. "We could use more lights, and I think we should take that money and put it back into recreation to get more people to come to the city."
Coun. Brian Quiring initially agreed with Gares and Mund.
"I think taking a pause, and land-baking this asset is the right move," he said. "I don't think we figured it out and so if we hit pause, get the building (Active Living Centre) finished, then it will sort itself out."
However, after hearing that the area could be repurposed, Quiring changed his mind.
"We fought like crazy for this amenity, and we can always repurpose the area," he said. "I think it is reasonable, so I want the site to be finished. Right now, we have over four million bucks to spend so let us do something nice for the community. I don't want to put those funds into other recreation areas when it was earmarked for the site."
Gares was skeptical about if repurposing the site, once completed as a passive park, would actually happen.
"I am apprehensive to change this into a walking trail because once you do that, it's hard to adjust as people become accustomed to what it is," she said. "I think we should not give up the lands, hold tight until we finish (the ALC) then go from there."
Eventually, the new idea for a passive park was passed by council, with Mund and Gares opposed.
