The Pemberton Youth Soccer Association (PYSA) has a friend in
the Village of Pemberton after council agreed to support its request for $2,500
from a Community Enhancement Fund.
The request, passed at the Nov. 18 council meeting, will give
the association funds towards the purchase of soccer equipment and a gym rental
at the old Pemberton Recreation Centre.
PYSA requested the grant because it needs off-season training
opportunities for teams, as well as an indoor practice option when the weather
turns in the fall, according to an application to the Community Enhancement
Fund.
In terms of equipment, the association requested two portable
indoor goals that cost $425 each, as well as two goal carry bags at $64 each.
PYSA also requested 80 hours worth of gym rentals at $22 an hour.
The association expects to raise $355.36 though its fall bottle
drive program, but the $2,500 would have covered the bulk of a total $2,855.36
to support the program.
Pemberton Mayor Jordan Sturdy said in an interview that the
village has a lease on the old recreation centre that will last until April,
but the village also obtained an extension that will allow use of the facility
for a year after that.
“The future of that whole site is something we’re working on as
we speak,” he said.
Currently school buses are being parked at the site by the Howe
Sound School District until the district can replace its bus garage and come up
with a facility for all business in Whistler and Pemberton.
Until then the buses are parked at the old recreation centre,
but people are still using the centre for indoor activities.
VOP council also approved a bylaw that will bring 911 service
to Pemberton, after months of discussions.
Currently residents of the Village and Area C can only access
911 service through cellular phones and fire dispatch service is coordinated
through the village. That could change soon now that the village has agreed to
provide 911 service to residents through EComm, an emergency communications
centre for southwest British Columbia.
Village officials were previously resistant to having EComm
direct emergency services in the Pemberton area because of concerns that
dispatchers were not familiar with the area.
That attitude has changed after Pemberton Fire Chief Russell
Mack toured the EComm facility and was “very impressed,” according to Sturdy.
“I think he has more comfort now that the dispatching would be
of the same calibre that we currently enjoy,” he said.
From here on in it could take approximately six months to get
911 service up and running in Pemberton, Sturdy said, a time period that will
see the service extended also to Birken, Furry Creek and Pinecrest Estates.
“I think there needs to be some upgrades to their equipment, or
communications equipment,” he said. “This is an enhanced 911 so that it
requires the mapping and addressing all be completed, so that needs to take
some time as well, because some of the areas don’t have actual street
addresses.”
Village council also passed Bylaw 622, which will allow
childcare facilities in its C-1 (town centre commercial) zone.
The bylaw came after Sea to Sky Community Services was looking
to increase its child care options. For a number of years it’s been looking to
relocate to new facilities and have its child care services operate at a single
facility.
“I believe they have three locations currently,” Sturdy said.
“Operating at one location would make a lot of sense.”
The bylaw will allow a childcare facility to be built on a lot
between the building that houses Pemberton’s courthouse and a glass shop.
November 18 marked the last meeting that the current Pemberton
council attended together. Sturdy will keep his seat and serve as mayor of the
next council, while four new faces will be seen in the other council seats.
The new council will be sworn in Dec. 1 at the New Pemberton Community Centre.