Frequently asked questions

The goal of the Community Centre Strategy is to establish prioritization principles and processes for community centre renovations, additions, and renewals, based on service needs and VanPlay objectives. 

The strategy will inform Capital Planning and prepare staff and the Board for future.

In 2001, the Park Board prepared a Community Centre Renewal Plan to prioritize renewal of community centres. The plan considered building condition assessments, a 10-year major maintenance schedule, building by-law audits, seismic studies, and qualitative data from staff and Community Centre Associations (CCAs) on the programmability and operational functionality of facilities.

The Community Centre Strategy will update the 2001 document with seismic and building code updates as well as new additional focus on equity, and optimum level of service to meet community needs. 

The citywide Community Centre Strategy will:

1. Explore the current state of the community centres by describing the current level of service (using factors such as services provided, capacity, demand and building condition)
2. Develop optimum level of service targets for community centres
3. Propose a methodology based on an agreed set of principles for the prioritization of renewal, in collaboration with Community Centre Associations and confirmed with community and stakeholder engagement
4. Describe process for renewal of community centres including needs assessment and associated community, First Nations Rights Holders and stakeholder engagement
5. Identify and propose a plan approach for collection and management of data required to facilitate planning for individual centres.

This strategy will consider all community centres operated by Vancouver Park Board, Community Centre Associations, and City of Vancouver.

As we develop the Community Centre Strategy we will rely heavily on our Community Centre Associations (CCA), recreation staff, and the community to ensure all perspectives are considered when determining both optimum levels of service and priority.

The Community Centre Strategy will not impact community centre renewal projects that are underway. The work for those community centres will be ongoing as per previous capital plan commitments. What we learn from those processes will be incorporated into the Community Centre Strategy. The centres currently going through renewal include: 

• RayCam Community Centre Renewal 
• Britannia Community Centre Renewal
• West End Community Centre Renewal 
• Marpole Community Centre Renewal

Staff will follow the public health orders in selecting the most suitable engagement methods. As of June 2021, staff are planning for virtual engagement only for the health and safety of staff and the public.

Your feedback is very important to this process, and there are different ways you can provide your feedback:

• Complete our survey on Shape Your City
• If you have questions or concerns you would like directly addressed to the project team, please email ccstrategy@vancouver.ca