City of Powell River Council is supporting a grant application of up to $120,000 to improve accessibility at six different city sites.
At the Thursday, June 20, council meeting, council voted to make a grant application to the Rick Hansen Foundation to improve accessibility at Powell River Airport, Willingdon Beach Park, Dwight Hall, City Hall, Powell River Recreation Complex and Westview Harbour.
Councillors were briefed on the grant application at the Tuesday, June 18, committee of the whole meeting, when manager of recreation Neil Pukesh outlined an accessibility audit that had been undertaken at the six city sites.
Pukesh said the purpose of his presentation was to get council’s support for the grant application of up to $120,000.
In the early spring of last year, the Rick Hansen Foundation was offering the opportunity for accessibility audits for facilities.
“This initially started as an accessibility audit of the Powell River Recreation Complex,” said Pukesh. “However, in speaking with the Rick Hansen Foundation, they suggested, based on our geographic location, that we look at more facilities. They wanted to do as many as five to eight sites.
“Working with our civic properties team, we decided to select six sites,” he added.
The city went through an application process for the audit process and it was granted. The audit was conducted at no cost to the city.
Pukesh said it was interesting, through the audit process, to find out the strengths and deficiencies of the six civic facilities. He said if the audit is conducted, it would allow the city to apply for applications of up to $20,000 per site for accessibility improvements.
After the evaluation, the six sites were scored by the Rick Hansen Foundation auditor.
“No matter where we scored on the spectrum, we thought this was a win for the community,” said Pukesh. “We know, with such aging infrastructure in the community, there is opportunity to improve accessibility.”
When the scorecards came back, three of the six sites passed. These included the airport, the wharfinger’s office at the harbour and the recreation complex. City hall, Dwight Hall and Willingdon Beach Park did not pass by achieving the 60 per cent rating that was required.
Pukesh said if the city is able to secure the grant money, the accessibility improvements to the various sites will have to be completed by September 2020. He said the city is going to continue to research accessible grant opportunities.
“We know there’s a lot more work that can be done, as we want to work towards becoming a more accessible community in the future,” said Pukesh.
Councillor George Doubt said he has come across people stuck at the entrances to the recreation complex and Dwight Hall. Getting the doors fixed is an important initiative, he said.
Pukesh said the objective is to be as accessible as possible.
“Accessibility in facilities is a huge trend,” said Pukesh. “We have to start with our sites where people are using them the most and take steps.”
