Community Raffle
Hey Springbank, let’s help our amazing public school improve equipment in the Phys Ed department. Tickets are $20 each available here. To see where the money will go, watch this virtual tour by SCHS Carol Smith and Tyler Mcrae. Our SCHS kids will be out in the community selling tickets!
Donations will be happily accepted for the items on this wishlist (below) - gently used or new:
Larger Equipment needed
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- Hockey Nets
- Volleyball Posts
- Pinnies - 12 of each colour (enough for 2 class sets)
- 30 Hockey helmets CSA approved
- Goalie equipment for floor hockey
Fitness equipment needed
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- Skipping ropes
- Bands
- Med balls
- Yoga mats (10)
- TRX (2)
- Bosu Ball
- Battle Rope
- Tennis balls
Medium Items needed
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- Volleyball Nets
- Tchouk Ball Set
- 2 more cricket sets
- 2 more badminton nets
- 20 badminton rackets
- 10 baseball gloves
- Proper set of dodgeballs
- Spikeball Sets (5)
- Basketball Rims
- Basketballs - enough for a class
- Lacrosse sticks
- Frisbees
- Footballs
- Flag football belts
- Scoreboard - flip
- Pickle ball rackets
- Pylons
Small Items
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- Lacrosse balls
- Floor hockey balls
- Birdies
If you can help out, please email Carol Smith.
Lego Club is back!
The program will run every Friday 4:30-6PM at the Equestrian Centre from October 20 to December 1. Free fun for ages 6-12! The program is hosted by our amazing Duke of Edinburgh teens.
SCA Opinion on Recreation
There were three agenda items that impacted Springbank on the September 27 Recreation Governance Committee (RCG) Agenda:
- Recreation Funding Policy
- South Springbank Facility Next Steps
- SR1 Recreation Reserve Fund Policy
In terms of process, the RCG decisions must be ratified by the Council at a subsequent council meeting.
We presented to the Recreation Governance Committee on September 27 to raise concerns about the proposed South Springbank Facility and use of the SR1 proceeds. Watch the video here, beginning at 1:53 (Springbank Facility) and 3:57 (SR1).
Our Views:
Recreation Funding Policy C-317
Our View: This policy is archaic. It is in desperate need of a make-over and RVC has taken a cursory stab and an update largely based on how much a project costs relative to how much the supporting organization needs to kick in to support it.
KEY CHANGE #1: From requiring 50% contribution to 50% community cost sharing for small projects (<500k), 30% community cost sharing for medium projects (500k-999k) and 15% community cost sharing for large projects (<$1M).
OUR OPINION: This is a terrible change for the following reasons:
- A community organization needs to provide $250K for a 499k project but only $150k for a project costing $1M.
- This policy still ties funding to the ability of the supporting organization to fund their share rather than using merit as the deciding factor for funding. Unfortunately, the most impactful projects will not have adequate community financial contributions (think, river access parking lot or community tennis courts). The result will be controversial projects that are funded by the County purely because the supporting group has funds, examples:
- Webber Academy $100k from RVC in 2022
- Cochrane Turf Field at Cochrane High School $600k from RVC in 2022
- New County facilities such as Springbank and Langdon will require massive community fundraising efforts to get off the ground, likely killing the projects before they start. Does the City of Calgary require residents surrounding a YMCA to come up with some of the capital costs? This is laughable. Rather, community contributions should be used to enhance a facility, with the County responsible for the “bones” and the community coming to the table with “nices to haves” such as scoreclocks, portable stages, bleacher seating, etc.
KEY CHANGE #2: Addition of Eligible expenses to include staff / salaries
OUR OPINION: This is a positive change for the following reasons:
- Most volunteer run organizations in Springbank use an overlapping volunteer base (same people all the time between the schools and community groups).
- Allowing organizations to have staff funded by RVC will allow Springbank groups to work together to propose staff for programs and operations in Springbank.
- We would be interested in proposing a FT shared staff person to work with non-profit organizations in Springbank (Heritage Club, Ladies Time Out, SCA, etc) to enhance programming and facility usage in Springbank.
WHAT DO WE WANT FROM RVC ON THIS ITEM?
We want RVC to offer an engagement opportunity to two to the 90 or so groups that will be impacted by the new policy BEFORE it goes to Council.
We want residents to know that Policies beginning with a “C” meaning “Council” do not need public engagement. Examples of these policies include circulation and notification of planning / development items, recreation funding, and the SR1 policy.
South Springbank Facility
Our View: RVC has this draft facility wrong. See here for the results of a survey we released over the summer.
Why we disagree with the concept.
- The Stakeholder Engagement process was shoddy:
- Approx 10 hours (over approx 16 months) of meetings between a small group of stakeholders (and not all invested in the project) and a RVC consultant resulted in the recommendation;
- The 10 hours was largely the consultant presenting with little debate and discussion by the groups with NOT ONE document provided to the stakeholder committee to take back to their groups;
- 10 hours is laughable and is NOT SUFFICIENT to plan a facility for Springbank and not enough to be considered community engagement;
- The final concept was NEVER presented to the SCA or any other stakeholder - including the COMMUNITY - until the report was completed;
- The process did not allow for ANY engagement from the broader community along the way - not one document was provided to share from RVC even to the stakeholder group, electronic or otherwise so the there was no opportunity to check in with the community or even our Board with thoughts or recommendations along the way.
- For $15M, we can do better than a large banquet-type space:
- We do not need 15,000 sqft of meeting rooms and a banquet hall for 200 seated;
- We cannot see a path forward for the economics of such a facility.
- Survey after survey has shown the most desirable amenities are:
- Indoor fitness
- Indoor walking / running track
- Gymnasium
- Teen spaces
- Childcare
- None of the phased proposed for Springbank have any of the above amenities.
IT IS TIME FOR RVC TO COME TO SPRINGBANK ON THIS TOPIC! PLEASE HOLD YOUR COUNCILOR ACCOUNTABLE FOR THIS LACKLUSTER PROCESS AND OUTCOMES.
Division 1: Kevin Hanson - 403-463-1166 - KRHanson@rockyview.ca
Division 2: Don Kochan - 587-435-7172 - DKochan@rockyview.ca
Comparison: Langdon is receiving a $35M rec / community centre with a hall, fieldhouse, indoor track, library, lease space, seniors activity space and more - see more.
SR1 Recreation Reserve Fund Policy C-706
After a failed attempt to pass a questionable policy in January 2022, the draft policy for the SR1 funds was back before the RCG. Read the proposed policy here.
We recommended that up to 50% the SR1 interest generated in a given year be available to use for community projects that improved the recreational, cultural or community amenities within Springbank. The RGC wanted all the interest to be reinvested and not available to be used independently of the larger fund.
We recommended that the SR1 funds be available for capital projects that were included in the Recreation and Parks Master Plan (which would allow us to use funds for parks, pathways and recreation facilities). The RGC decided to use terminology that would exclusively use the finds for the “Springbank Event Centre” rather than supporting our proposal for more general wording which referenced the Master Plan. This decision will require that ALL the SR1 funds (approx $8M) can only be used for the Proposed Phase 1 of the Springbank Facility which, at this point, includes none of the community’s top desired amenities.
We asked our Councillors to put forward a motion that an annual report on the SR1 Reserve Fund should be prepared and available to Springbank residents, but that request was not put forward to the committee.
Further, the RGC asked administration to clarify whether the SR1 funds could be used for the community contribution component of a project (i.e. 15% of the project cost) and administration responded, NO, stating that SR1 is only available for matching funds.
What does this all mean?
- For Rocky View County’s proposed $15M facility, the community will need to fundraise $2.25M before even accessing the $8M in SR1 funds.
- That Rocky View County, which will pay 85% of a project like Langdon, using recreation funds from tax dollars, will only pay approx 25-30% of Springbank.
- That ALL the SR1 funds will be used for Phase 1 of the Springbank Project (event centre) with NOTHING left over for development of the acquired lands next to SPFAS or recreation facilities.
In closing:
In our view, it is unrealistic that area residents will come up with $2M+ for an “Event Centre” that doesn’t appear to be supported by the Community. Therefore, the $8M will effectively be sterilized (albeit accruing interest).
Our councilors let us down on this topic.
Rocky View County administration made a policy FOR SPRINGBANK without consulting with Springbank residents.
Duke of Edinburgh - 13 Silver Awards to be presented on October 22!
MLA Sarah Emeligi will present awards to 13 amazing young people with the Springbank Chapter of the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Thanks to RVC Trustee Judi Hunter for her leadership of the Duke of Edinburgh program at the Springbank Chapter.
Crime in Springbank
There have been reports of intentionally set fires and vandalism in the central Springbank area. How is the RCMP doing?
Springbank Airport Development
Lots of activity and new red signs at the Springbank Airport. Learn about the airport here.
There are some changes planned to further develop the commercial footprint of the airport. Various lease opportunities have been posted on the YBW website.
For a map, click here.
The new bridge has been completed on highway 22.
Paving is still ongoing on highway 22 between the new bridge and highway 1.
The intersection of highway 22 and Springbank Road is open.
