Council supports funding community groups in the development and maintenance of community use facilities subject to the following:

1. A higher priority will be given to any request that has a confirmed contribution from a regional partner.
2. A written agreement must be in place before any funding requests can be finalized. The applicant cannot be in breach of any terms of the agreement. Funding requests are evaluated by reference to the agreement.
3. All community groups must comply with the provisions of the provincial "Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act" and the federal "Canadian Human Rights Act".
4. Where permitted by the Municipal Government Act and subject to Council approval, a community group that owns its land within the city limits may apply for a grant in lieu of property tax relief.
5. Requests for funding of community group operated facilities on privately owned land are not normally considered unless the community group’s activities would qualify that community group to apply for FCSS funding or where in the case of capital improvements to land or buildings, the owner of the land grants the city the ability to caveat an agreement that can be registered against the title of the land as a first charge to protect the interests of the City.
6. Requests for funding of community group operated facilities on privately owned land outside the City are not normally considered unless the Regional Municipality in which the land is located has confirmed it will fund or guarantee the funding of a minimum of the percentage of confirmed use by residents of the Regional Municipality for the proposed project.
7. Funding would not normally exceed the percentage of confirmed use by City of Grande Prairie residents as compared to the use of all users of that facility.
8. Requests for multi-year funding will be considered.
9. Requests for funding for school, college, regional municipality, or provincially owned and operated facilities must come from those owners and will be evaluated on a case by case basis and with reference to any regional community development or revenue sharing agreement that may be is place. Funding may be limited to fund the cost of participation by City residents.
10. Requests for funding follow the process outlined in the accompanying Procedure.

As our City grows in size and matures as a municipality, the needs of our residents for facilities change. The City has challenged our residents and other partners to look for creative ways to achieve their goals of developing new or improved facilities. With this direction to the community to be innovative, we must be prepared for new requests from our community to partner in and fund new projects. Therefore, we need to ensure that our policy for the development and maintenance of community use facilities matches the innovation we are seeking from our community groups.

In addition to the new needs for community use facilities resulting from our City’s growth, growth throughout the South Peace region and particularly in the area adjacent our city’s boundaries has led to increased facility usage. This regional growth has added to the need for expanded and new city based community use facilities.

Our regional neighbours have noted that the growth of our city has led to an increase in the use of their community use facilities. Therefore, we need to ensure that our policy for the development and maintenance of community use facilities achieves a fair balance between the needs of the regional community, which includes our residents, and the sharing of the costs of community use facilities used by the regional community wherever they are located in this region.


RELATED INFORMATION

The effect of the policy is to clarify and limit the access to our funding by groups on regional, private, school or college lands. Investing funds on lands outside of our control creates the risk that we may lose the value of that funding over time or that we may be asked to provide ongoing funding for purposes dictated by the policies of other landowners.

The policy would apply to the operating and capital costs of a facility. A procedure to outline the application process accompanies this policy.

This policy will be reveiwed by Committee and Council in May 2003.


DEFINITIONS

Community Groups means not-for-profit societies, associations, and clubs that offer a service to both their members and the general public.

Community Use Facilities means those facilities that are used by the public and operated by a community group for a variety of leisure pursuits and services (leisure broadly defined) and include but are not limited to such facilities as sports arenas, cultural buildings, or outdoor venues.


RESPONSIBILITIES

Community Development Committee.