Cowan Park In Transition

Friday, 4 May 2018 05:35

The take over of Cowan Park by the city will bring a few changes come June 4th.

WOODSTOCK - The fate of Cowan Park and it's operations are still in the early stages.

Council passed a resolution on April 5th, directing the City of Woodstock's Manager of Parks and Recreation, Brian Connors to come up with a financing and transition plan for operations of the facility by city staff, during major use operating use hours only.

The council's directive was to bring back a budget for the time frames of the facility when the building is typically at capacity.

Connors will present council with a proposed operations budget on at their meeting on May 17th.

The goal is to try to have minimal effect on the community as possible. All soccer on the outdoor fields won't be affected, there will however be changes for indoor use. Connors says the facility will likely only operate in the evening hours.

Connors says the budget proposal is still being worked on because it is not a simple acquisition.

"There is basically three pieces to the budget that has to come up, one is some capitol equipment that is needed, the other is the operating of the outdoor facilities and the indoor facilities."

Where the funds are extracted from is another contentious issue, as the funds for the over taking will not come from typical tax resources. Connors anticipates the proposed budget will be around the $360,000 mark.

"For the next six months a lot of this money would be coming from the parks reserve accounts or issuing new debt, so it is not coming from a normal tax process."

In previous, city dollars were allocated to the outer shell of the facility as well as the snow removal.

Connors was eager to stress that there will be amendments to the changes of operations in the future as the programs grow, the building will become more utilized.

The city will take over operations of the facility as of June 4th, at which point the Woodstock Soccer Club will essentially become a renter of the facility, much like any other group using it.