Progress on a delayed project to overhaul the ailing track and field area at West Vancouver Secondary appears to finally be around the bend.
At a council meeting on Monday, Mayor Mark Sager said the district is proceeding to tender on the West Vancouver Place for Sport, following a council vote in private.
“The new plan is for a six-lane competitive track and an artificial turf field that will be certainly a world-class training facility,” he said. “We expect we will have results from that tender process early in September, and that – all going well – will be the commencement of that long-overdue project.”
The expanded plan also includes sports field lighting; spaces for long jump, high jump, triple jump, pole vault and shotput; as well as training areas for discus, hammer and javelin throw, according to a statement. Washrooms at the adjacent high school will be renovated to accommodate the facility. Previous plans didn’t include washrooms, change facilities or public viewing amenities.
Extensive planning and fundraising for the project has been underway since 2015, with construction slated to begin last year. But the newly elected municipal council decided to expand the project’s scope this January, allocating an additional $80,000 to the $9.5-million price tag for work on the added scope and getting cost estimates.
Then in June, West Van council allocated another $135,000 from the “existing, approved” Community Amenity Funds provision to be reallocated to finish the detailed design work for a design option outlined in a May 2023 staff report.
While located on school district land, the Ministry of Education doesn’t fund sports fields. To date, funding for the project has been committed by the district, West Vancouver Schools, fundraising and private donations.
In January, the district said that council will continue to seek other sources of funding to complete the project, and additional community information meetings will be held once more funding is secured.
Dubbed the Harry Jerome Oval, the new track will be named in honour of the late great North Shore athlete.
