The Town of Qualicum Beach will ask voters if they want to spend up to $700,000 on the historic St. Andrew’s Lodge, even though the society leasing the building is opposed to the question going on the ballot.
Municipal elections will be held across the province on Oct. 15. On top of picking council members, Qualicum Beach electors will be asked two non-binding questions: If they want to spend money on the 1938 lodge and if they want to increase the number of councillors to six from four.
On the lodge question, “we did everything we could to keep it off the ballot,” said Jay Smith president of the St. Andrew’s Lodge Historical and Cultural Society.
“People will think it came from us, that we are out there begging for money when it’s the complete opposite.”
The society was recently granted charitable status and has raised just over $50,000 in donations and pledges, Smith said. Two $5,000 cheques were presented to the society on Thursday.
Although the final cost to rehabilitate the lodge is not firm, Smith figures it will be closer to $400,000 than $700,000.
For more than 80 years, the Little family ran the lodge and cabins at 3319 Island Highway West, eventually selling the building and its lands, which runs to the waterfront, to the town for $3.4 million in 2018.
The lodge does not meet building code standards and is not used, but remains a beloved local landmark. When the town voted in 2020 to demolish or relocate it, lodge supporters rallied to save it. It has since remained in its original location.
A one-year lease signed last year has just been extended for another four years.
The society leased the lodge on the understanding that no money from the town would be invested.
Smith said it was clear when the society was given permission to restore the building that it would have to do so on its own.
But some members of council question if that’s the best way to go.
At a council meeting last month, Mayor Brian Wiese and councillors Scott Harrison and Robert Filmer voted in favour of adding the funding question to the ballot. Councillors Teunis Westbroek and Anne Skipsey were opposed.
Harrison made the motion to put the question on the ballot, saying it is a way to gauge community wishes. Public washrooms would cost more than $300,000. If voters support the town contributing, the work could be done more quickly than by waiting for fundraising.
A best-case scenario would see the society raise enough money by the end of the next council’s term, but it is more likely it will take seven to eight years to raise what is needed, Harrison said.
Wiese said he agreed that fundraising can take time and said: “We need to get moving on that building sooner than later.”
He suggested providing a loan, saying the town had done that to assist other projects.
Skipsey said the society feels it is well within its means to raise needed money for the lodge. “I don’t think there’s a need for this question,” she said.
Also, the town’s vision for the parkland at the lodge has not been completed yet, Skipsey said.
When that is finished, council will understand better whether the washrooms should be standalone or not, she said.
Westbroek said after a staff report said washrooms would cost $350,000, it was learned that the cost would be far less if they were incorporated into the lodge. He did not think there was a need for the lodge question on the ballot.
“I know there are people waiting in the wings to make donations. Give them a chance,” Westbroek said.
Putting the question on the ballot undermines the people who worked hard to save the building, he said, adding the new longer-term lease will make it easier to raise money.
The location of washrooms — whether in the park or in the lodge — has not been decided.
Filmer would like to see more amenities, such as a children’s playground, on the parkland. The town has owned the land for several years and it has not been improved.
The question regarding council size follows similar votes in 2008 and 2014 where an increase was rejected. If it passes this time, and if council numbers are increased, it would not happen until the 2026 election.
Last year, the community of 9,300 ended up with just three members of council sitting for a period of time. Filmer took a two-month medical leave of absence starting in mid-December 2020 and Coun. Adam Walker stepped down after being elected as an MLA in 2020.
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