Budget ramped up for John Tod centre | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Kamloops News

Budget ramped up for John Tod centre

Colin Reid, CEO of the local YMCA/YWCA, shows talks about the new windows being installed in the gym of the John Tod Centre, which will help provide more natural light to the former school.

KAMLOOPS - The finishing touches are being installed as a crew hustles to complete the conversion of John Tod from a school to a community centre — and now a parking lot has been added to the 2014 to-do list.

Work began on the $2.2 million conversion earlier this year but the city planned to complete the parking lot improvements next year. The two user groups, YMCA-YWCA and the Boys and Girls Club, have quickly realized program participation is up as they prepare to move in to the new building. They expect the building to be at capacity by the time it opens later this fall.

The increased capacity could result in a parking crunch once the building opens, but BA Dawson Blacktop Ltd. has stepped up to the plate and is offering to help out by providing the work at a deeply discounted costs, as well as financial contributions to the project. The project will move ahead by ‘reprioritizing’ funds and pushing back timelines on other projects.

Parks Director Byron McCorkell notes the proposal from BA Dawson allows the city to complete the work in a ‘very affordable manner’ and it will not affect taxation since the money was already allotted for, just in a different part of the budget.

The YMCA is also moving forward with items planned for the second phase of work which will help enable the building to be fully functioning when the centre opens. The program has already managed to raise $240,000 to increase the budget to allow for these upgrades to happen.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Jennifer Stahn at jstahn@infonews.ca or call 250-819-3723. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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