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Gymnastics Club facing 66 per cent facility hike

May require municipal funding to meet operating costs

After months of waiting and worrying, the Oros Whistler Gymnastics Club at last received a more detailed accounting of costs for the new facility that they've occupied since August.

And according to the numbers the club could be facing a 66 per cent increase in facility costs for the club.

At that level, the gymnastics club will not be able to continue to lease the space and will be forced to look for another facility. However, walking away from the facility would also mean walking away from $2 million in funding to build the facility that was provided by the Resort Municipality of Whistler.

"We could only occupy the space if we received enough grant money to offset the increased amount and the problem with that is that we would have to go year-by-year as the grants are not predictable these days," said Sandi Wentzel, who has been hired by Oros Whistler Gymnastics to negotiate their lease and increase the number of user groups in the facility.

"We are forever increasing our programming and our access bookings to offset costs, but our population is limited."

Whistler 2010 Sports Legacies (W2010SL), which operates the facility and will own it in the future through an agreement with the municipality, has kept the operating costs for the facility to $55,000 for the 2010-2011 season, honouring the $52,000 estimate that the club was given in November 2009 before any of the costs for the facility were known.

With the new Harmonized Sales Tax applied, that comes to $61,600 for this year - almost three times what the club previously paid to rent gym space at Spring Creek Community School on a part-time basis.

While the gymnastics club can afford the 2010-2011 amount with the help of grants and fundraising, the 2011-2012 season is shaping up to be a different story with the gymnastics club now facing a potential surge in costs of up to $83,884, based on W2010SL estimates for operating the building, or $93,954 after HST.

Whistler Gymnastics is working with W2010SL to get a complete breakdown of utility costs, which make up the bulk of their costs per square foot. As for the W2010SL, they only recently took control of the High Performance Centre and other Whistler Olympic legacies, and can so far only make estimates on what the costs will be over an entire year of operation.

According to Keith Bennett, the CEO of W2010SL, they have yet to receive any utility bills for the centre, but should have a more accurate accounting of costs in the next 30 to 60 days. It's possible that the costs will be lower than the numbers they provided the club.

"The original estimates were based on numbers that go back to the original business plan in 2006 or 2007... and we worked with some of the numbers we were given and said 'that sounds right,'" said Bennett. "It was always clear that these were estimates...and the bottom line is that we don't have the utility bills yet for the building or know what it costs. "

The utility providers include Terasen Gas, B.C. Hydro and the district heating system created by the municipality using heat captured from the wastewater treatment plant. For the entire facility it's been estimated that utility costs could be as high as $120,000, with the Oros Whistler Gymnastics Club responsible for 43.3 per cent of the cost based on their 5,666 square feet of space.

Concerned by the potential steep hike in costs, the gymnastics club has contacted the RMOW and council, as well as increased its fundraising and grant-writing efforts. They are also increasing programming and contacting other potential user groups about the space, and preparing to launch a sponsorship program and donor wall. They have also gone back to the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation, which has so far contributed almost $225,000 to the gymnastics club to purchase new equipment for the facility.

However, the club needs long-term guarantees so that it can make its rent, without relying so much on fundraising and grants.

Councillor Grant Lamont, a parent of a gymnast, says that the W2010SL budget for the facility should be revisited, but believes part of the shortfall would be covered in the future as a municipal Fee For Service, rather than annual grants through the Community Enrichment Program.

Lamont says there was likely too much optimism on all sides about the costs of the facility and would also like to see the gymnastics club raise more money in the future through new programs and access groups. However, he understands that raising fees is not an option, either, and the club has surveyed other clubs around the province to ensure that its rates are on par.

"The club now has this facility 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and there should be opportunities to generate more revenues," said Lamont. "In the meantime I don't anticipate that anybody wants to see the gymnastics club pack up and that space to sit empty, and the way to do that is to write it in as a Fee For Service, rather than have it come back every year to the Community Enrichment Program."

That could cost Whistler taxpayers $30,000 per year at the start, Lamont estimates, although he believes that could be reduced as the club grows and the facility costs are addressed.

While costs have cast a shadow on the club, it's also been a record season for programming. With the growth of trampoline programs and popular adult programs, the gym club's membership is higher than ever before. They have also successfully attracted a large number of user groups, including the B.C. Snowboard Association, Canada Snowboard, the Whistler Valley Snowboard Club, Pro Ride snowboard camps, the Whistler Mountain Ski Club, the Pipe and Park Freestyle Team, the Canadian School of Business, the Korean Freestyle Association, the Canadian Sport Federation, and various other user groups. The facility still has open slots during the day, later in the evenings and on the weekends to fill. They also host youth birthday parties and other corporate functions.

Pique contacted local property owner and manager Steve Bayly regarding the cost breakdown given to the gymnastics club, and he said it appeared that some of the costs per square foot were high. For example, at a warehouse he operates in Function Junction the triple net costs are around $5.25 per square foot, or almost a third as much as the roughly $14.80 per square foot the club could be asked to pay in 2011-2012 if W2010SL's estimates are correct.

Of that $5.25, Bayly says more than half is related to property taxes, for which the High Performance Centre is currently exempt. However, utilities are not included in his rates as they are for W2010SL tenants.

While Bayly said the buildings are not directly comparable, he believes the quoted cost for utilities also seems high. Through experience, he says the average cost is around $1 per square foot while the estimated cost for the entire High Performance Centre is over 10 times that much.

He also said the maintenance costs seem high.

The gymnastics club previously rented space at Spring Creek Community School. According to numbers provided by the school board, the Spring Creek gym - which is almost 2,000 square feet larger than the gymnastics club at 7,565 square feet - cost $50,872 per year to operate, or roughly $6.75 per square foot per year. That figure includes security, recycling/garbage, custodial labour and supplies, snow removal, grounds/parking lot maintenance, heat, light and general maintenance.

It does not include HST, and it's unknown if the costs were higher when Whistler Gymnastics was a tenant.

By way of comparison, the gymnastics club pays $14.80 per square foot for a similar range of services, plus insurance.

As for the potential that the RMOW could end up supporting the club, a survey of other clubs by Whistler Gymnastics suggests that's fairly standard although clubs are generally on the hook for operating costs.

For example, Pheonix Gymnastics, one of the largest clubs in the province with over 1,000 gymnasts, rents their facility for $1 per year, and pays operating and maintenance costs on 22,000 square feet.