The Martlet

UVic’s Department of Athletics and Recreation is continuing with plans for new athletic facilities, though substantial funding still needs to be secured in order to build them.

Plans for the new facilities suffered a setback in February, when the B.C. Ministry of Advanced Education rejected UVic’s proposed athletic fee increase of $55 per student per term, which, they said, was not in line with the provincial tuition limit policy. Students currently pay $72 per term in athletic fees.

However, a consultative ballot conducted in October 2009 demonstrated that 53 per cent of students who voted supported the fee increase; 20 per cent of UVic students participated in the consultative ballot. Clint Hamilton, UVic’s Director of Athletics, feels the ballot results show support for the new facilities more than for the fee increase, pointing out the vote was non-binding.

“There was not a formal request for any new fee,” said Hamilton.

The proposed fee would have contributed $21.6 million of the $58.7 million required to construct a new athletic facility on Parking Lot Three and the adjacent tennis courts. The new building would replace many of the services currently offered in the Ian Stewart Complex, which would be redeployed for other uses, though the arena would remain.

“There was a lot of consultation done with students about what we needed,” said Hamilton.

The facility would include a basketball court, recreational gyms , a climbing wall, a rowing machine room, an indoor field house with locker rooms, storage and training facilities, and other activity spaces. It would also house CanAssist, an organization that offers programs for students with special needs. Currently, CanAssist runs the Just for Kicks program in the basement of the McKinnon Gym.

“The detailed design of the facility will be done any day now,” said Hamilton. “The financing of the facility needs to be clarified.”

The current federal-provincial infrastructure grants that UVic has received to upgrade several buildings on campus will not cover athletic facilities.
But Hamilton says UVic will continue to pursue funding options, including government grants.

“I remain very positive about the new facility going forward,” he said. Once construction begins, the project is expected to take 18 to 24 months to complete.

Since the proposed building would occupy a current parking lot, the Department of Campus Planning has stipulated that a parkade must be included in the plans. The water table in the area doesn’t allow for much underground construction, so a multilevel parkade is planned for next to the gym.

Hamilton said his department was not involved in decisions around the parkade.

A second phase of construction would add an aquatic facility in McKinnon which would cost another $30 million.