SUPPORTS ITEM NO. 6
CS&B COMMITTEE AGENDA
JULY 25, 1996
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: July 16, 1996
TO: Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets
FROM: General Manager of Parks & Recreation
SUBJECT: Roundhouse Community Centre Operation and Budget
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council approve an annual operating budget for the
Roundhouse in the amount of $1,252,000 (Appendix A).
b. THAT Council approve $200,000 from 1996 Supplemental Capital
for furnishings and equipment of the Round-house centre.
COUNCIL POLICY
City Council approves added basic operating budgets for new
facilities. The Park Board is required to approve any new regular
positions.
The City of Vancouver's False Creek Policy Broadsheets, the Park Board
Arts Policy (attached), CITYPLAN, Directions for Vancouver, and the
City's Vancouver Arts Initiative, which describe the need to broaden
art and culture activity in the community.
SUMMARY
Staff recommend approval of the annual operating budget and the
capital request based on the following factors:
- The City has a per capita standard of providing community centres
to local neighbourhoods. The downtown peninsula including the
West End is already considerably under served relative to other
neighbourhoods. With the additional development in False Creek
North and adjoining areas a major new community facility is a
requirement.
- The proposed operating costs of $1,252,000 for a 47,000 square
foot facility ($26.63 per square foot) are in the same range as
other community centres. The gross operating costs for the West
End Community Centre, at 55,500 square feet, are $1,617,000
($29.40 per square foot); Killarney, 67,700 square feet,
$1,655,000 ($24.44 per square foot); Riley Park, 72,900 square
feet, $1,655,000 ($23.66 per square foot). Net operating costs
for these centres are similar to the recommendation for the
Roundhouse.
- The Board is requesting the City to fund $200,000 capital for the
basic furnishings and equipment that were deleted in earlier
negotiations with Council.
- The public/private partnership with Concord Pacific provided a
facility at no cost to the City. This has created a unique
opportunity to fulfil this partnership and to respond to current
demographic trends by providing active programming that reaches
out into the rapidly evolving, complex and sophisticated
community that will be served by the Roundhouse.
- When the Roundhouse is turned over to Park Board it will have
complex logistical requirements, including the maintenance of a
large, specialised heritage facility, and high user volume.
Parts of the Roundhouse have been used for cultural purposes for
over a decade. Numerous policy initiatives have identified the
importance of expanding recreational programming to include
community arts. Planning for the new community centre therefore
responded to the requirements and possibilities for community art
activities presented by these facilities.
PURPOSE
This report provides a history of the development of the Roundhouse
Community Centre and a rationale for the recommended annual operating
budget.
BACKGROUND
Meeting The Standard For Community Centres
There is a standard in Vancouver of providing community centre
facilities in most local areas. There are twenty-three (23) community
centres in Vancouver, twenty-one (21) operated by the Park Board, and
two (2) by Social Planning. The Roundhouse, the twenty-fourth centre,
will be the community centre for Yaletown and the new Concord
development. This neighbourhood is expected to rival the West End in
terms of population density.
The standard size of community facilities for each 20,000 people is
27,000 square feet. Approximately 40,000 additional people will be
moving into the downtown peninsula as a result of new developments.
The Park Board plans to provide 68,000 square feet of new facilities
at the Roundhouse and Coal Harbour to meet this growth, as well as to
ameliorate the fact that the West End Community Centre has for some
time served twice the population size of the community centre
standard.
Community centres are all unique. They vary due to the nature of the
facilities in which they are housed, the size and demographics of the
community in which they are located, and the needs of the city as a
whole. Most centres have a gymnasium (some with a stage), a number of
multi purpose rooms, a games room or lounge designed as drop-in space
for children, youth, and seniors, and an arts and craft room. Some
centres have dedicated spaces for pre-school, playschool and
after-school care, seniors, pottery, lapidary, weight training, and
martial arts. In addition, some centres have a special focus designed
to provide a high level of service to the entire city in a specific
area of community need. Some examples are: the Aquatic Centre was
built with a national standard swimming pool; False Creek has a canoe
club; West Point Grey turned the carriage house into a potters' club;
and Kerrisdale added a seniors' wing. The Roundhouse Community Centre
is the first to have facilities dedicated to community art.
Recreation and Community Art
In the post war period, civic government has treated recreation and
culture as two distinct categories. Recreation was most commonly
defined as physical recreation, and its needs were met by a range of
facilities, including gymnasia, ice rinks, swimming pools, and outdoor
playing fields. Culture, on the other hand, was usually defined as
high art, and its requirements were met by facilities of a high level
of technical sophistication, such as civic art galleries and theatres.
Recreational programs were inexpensive, accessible, and 'fun', while
cultural programs were relatively costly, exclusive, and 'serious'.
Over time, and particularly in the last decade, this distinction has
eroded. Community centres, once primarily oriented to physical
recreation, have increasingly shifted to include social developmental
and educational programs, as the communities they serve have become
larger, more diverse, complex, and demanding. Similarly, some
cultural facilities have sought to increase access, outreach into the
community, and explore means to make art a more integral part of the
daily life of all citizens.
Nowhere is this confluence of recreational and cultural programming
more pronounced than in community art. The term 'community art'
refers to recreational programming that encourages involvement by the
whole community in creative explorations through a broad range of
activities. Community art includes professional artists working with
specific portions of a particular community, such as seniors making a
quilt, youth decorating a bus shelter, or children painting a mural on
the wall of their community centre or school. It refers to sessions
where members of a community literally 'act out' core dilemmas they
face, and then turn to the audience for suggestions on how they might
resolve them. It can mean community lantern making workshops
culminating in mass public parades, or children exploring their
cultural diversity through art workshops focused on different foods.
It can also encourage people's participation in a community planning
process, as in the Trout Lake Restoration Project. It unites the
public participation, access and diversity of recreation programming
with the complexity, depth, and breadth of cultural work. It marries
recreation's core assumptions about the benefits of broadly shared
health with culture's reliance on the power and range of human
creativity.
The Challenges Of The False Creek North Neighbourhood
During the same period that community art was emerging as a powerful
response to the complex currents increasingly flowing through
neighbourhoods, the Park Board was facing a number of dilemmas in
designing a new community centre for False Creek North. Sited in a
unique heritage facility in the centre of the largest urban
development project in North America, it will provide programs to a
neighbourhood changing in a couple of years from mostly vacant lots to
high urban density on the edge of the downtown core. No one can
predict with complete assurance what this new neighbourhood will be
like to live in, except to anticipate that it will be highly diverse,
both economically and culturally. Many of its residents will not
speak English, or only with difficulty, but at the same time will most
likely have been attracted to this downtown location because of its
promise of a sophisticated urban lifestyle, encouraged by the
developer's promotion of 'Canada's first fibre-optic neighbourhood'.
False Creek North is immediately adjoined by Downtown South, a mature
inner city neighbourhood facing a host of pressures, and Yaletown, a
recently redeveloped heritage area primarily attracting relatively
wealthy young professionals. The Roundhouse can also expect
programming demands from the International Village complex in the
absence of the planned but not built community school, and from
residents of the City Gate developments on Main Street.
History Of The Roundhouse Facility
The Roundhouse facility, which will house the new community centre
itself has a rich heritage. Many Vancouverites can still remember
visiting it to watch train repairmen doing their work. But during
Expo '86 it was transformed into a cultural facility, first housing an
installation by internationally renowned Canadian artist Michael Snow,
then the massively popular exhibition Artropolis, and most recently
the important, Fear of Others: Art Against Racism.
The Agreement Between the City of Vancouver
and Concord Pacific
The new Roundhouse Community Centre is part of the Concord Pacific
development. As the result of an agreement with the City, Concord is
building, fitting, furnishing and equipping the Roundhouse in
consultation with the Park Board and City. In addition to the
renovation of the heritage building to include a variety of program
areas, and community exhibition and performance facilities, this
agreement included building a new gymnasium adjacent to the
Roundhouse.
Policy Background
The Roundhouse's development into its current final form results from
a number of local and regional policy initiatives. In 1988 Council
approved a number of policies for False Creek development, including a
direction that community facilities and services should provide for
the educational, social, health and cultural needs of the resident,
employee and visitor populations, that the needs of existing and new
communities should be merged to achieve efficient delivery of
services, and that facilities and services should look beyond the
limits of the basin. In 1991, a regional needs assessment identified
community art as an underdeveloped program area. At about the same
time, the Park Board also began a process to develop an Arts Policy
(attached). This policy, approved by the Board in 1993, articulates a
number of basic principles and goals emphasizing the importance of art
in recreational programming. "CITYPLAN, Directions for Vancouver",
describes the need to broaden art and culture activity at the
neighbourhood level to provide opportunity for individual learning and
expression by increasing access to the arts for children and youth,
recognizing and utilizing the contribution of individual artists,
creating partnerships between the private sector, non- profit
organizations and the City, and respecting Vancouver's diverse
cultural heritage. Finally, the City's "Vancouver Arts Initiative"
also makes a number of recommendations designed to advance the
interaction of artists with community and to make experience in the
arts more accessible. All these policies are consistent with the
recognition across North America that the arts and arts facilities are
an important component of recreation activities.
Community Consultation
A Roundhouse Advisory Committee, (consisting of representatives of the
new community, Park Board and City staff, and community and
professional arts representatives, with assistance from a number of
expert consultants and other interested individuals) was developed to
assist in determining priorities and to participate in a program
design process for the facility to ensure maximum traditional
programming opportunities, as well as those described in the above
mentioned policy documents.
The Mandate For The Roundhouse
Taking into consideration these various factors -- the needs of a
complex and rapidly evolving neighbourhood, the highly successful
integration of recreation and culture, a heritage arts facility, and a
unique public/private partnership opportunity -- the Park Board
designated the new facility The Roundhouse Community Arts and
Recreation Centre, with a mandate to provide the focus for a healthy
and creative community.
On March 12, 1996, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation
considered a staff report dealing with the Roundhouse operation,
staffing and budget, and subsequently approved the following
recommendations:
THAT the Board approve an annual operating budget for the
Roundhouse in the amount of $1,252,000, and
THAT the Board approve the establishment of 10 regular full
time positions, subject to review by Human Resources
Department and the GVRD, and
THAT the Board request Council approve $375,000 from 1996
Supplemental Capital for furnishings and equip-ment for the
centre and performance space, with $175,000 being
recoverable from Concord (negotiations with Concord for
$175,000 have since been successfully concluded), and
THAT staff report back to the Board on the budget, the
operation, and the Joint Operating Agreement with the
Roundhouse Community Association, particularly as it relates
to the arts facilities, after one full year of operation of
the centre and arts facilities.
Subsequent to these decisions, and following approval by Council of
the 1996 start-up budget, a co-ordinator, newly classified by the GVRD
as Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Co-ordinator, for the
facility has been hired. He has a strong background in community
arts, community cultural development, and the professional arts
community. Construction of the centre is now close to completion, and
should be turned over to the Park Board by October 1996 for operation
by January, 1997. Approval of an annual operating budget is required.
DISCUSSION
Budget
The details of the annual budget for $1,252,000 are outlined in Appendix A. This budget was put together to provide the resources
necessary to run this facility, and is comparable to the gross
expenditures of other facilities of this size. (See Appendix A-1 for
budget comparisons with other community centres.) The explanation
follows in this report.
Programming
In order to fulfil the opportunities inherent in the partnership with
Concorde Pacific, the Park Board is developing and implementing
programming appropriate to the neighbourhood and the new facility.
The Roundhouse is over 47,000 square feet. Altogether there are
twenty-one separate spaces within the Roundhouse, some as large as
7,000 square feet. These will operate simultaneously, at least
fourteen and a half hours a day, seven days a week. The Roundhouse,
besides including a gymnasium for traditional physical recreational
programming, and multi-purpose rooms for social developmental and
educational programming of a type offered at most community centres,
also includes spaces designed for working on or displaying large
visually-oriented community art projects, such as banners or murals,
programs involving up to three hundred people, such as performances,
workshops or lectures, and activities with high physical demands, such
as dance or music.
The programming and operation of all of these spaces is quite complex.
It will require a co-ordinator and four programmers. They will
concentrate on developing programs for children, youth and seniors,
adult education, sports, fitness, arts and crafts, woodworking,
pottery, dance, special events, club groups, and workshops. As well
they will organize visual art workshops and major exhibitions of
community art in the exhibition facility; community theatre, lectures,
poetry readings, performances, and conferences in the performance
area; and aerobic, dance and movement programs in the dance studio.
In many instances these programs will result from partnership
agreements developed by staff with private businesses, non-profit
groups, and other local organizations such as schools, universities,
libraries, and social service providers.
In addition, there is an outdoor amphitheatre, three courtyard areas,
and the adjoining David Lam Park, all offering programming
opportunities to which the staff will have to respond.
But to serve effectively a new and dynamic community, the Roundhouse,
as well as offering traditional recreational and arts and crafts
programming, will encourage active participation of residents in the
community arts. This will require outreach by professional community
arts and recreation staff sensitive to the myriad of ways programming
can address various local needs, as well as developing programming
models suitable for the city as a whole. Encouraging cultural
diversity, for example, remains an abstraction at best until it is
made meaningful and real by a Dragon Boat Festival, or by a dance
choreographed by seniors for seniors. The budget, staffing levels,
and organization of the Roundhouse have been determined by this
requirement.
Part of this requirement is budget to engage staff as needed to
provide the necessary expertise and materials to support the
specialized programs of the Roundhouse (listed in the budget under
program contracts and program supplies). These include artists
capable of involving community members in recreational projects in
particular disciplines, facilitators capable of enabling community
development projects, and physical recreation consultants with
experience in non-traditional exercise such as Tai Chi or modern
dance. It is expected some of this type of activity will result in
fee for service programs, but most community art programs will require
subsidy.
Most of the general programs in this centre will be fee for service.
As in other centres, both Park Board and community association funds
will subsidize community events and additional programs for children,
youth, seniors, special needs groups. The development of all such
programs is the responsibility of the programmers.
All staff will have complementary skills and expertise and the ability
to work as a team. Appendix B provides a summary of professional
staff responsibilities. Appendix C provides an overview of support
staff functions.
Hours of Operation
Staff believe that operating hours from 8:30 am to 10:30 pm are the
minimum requirement for a large and active centre in the heart of
densely populated and culturally diverse community. This requires
staffing for 14.5 hours/day to allow for closing. Given the assumed
culturally diverse nature of the new community, closure on statutory
holidays has not been a consideration.
The Community Association
Like all community centres, the Roundhouse will be jointly run by the
Park Board and a community association and a joint operating agreement
will be developed. The Roundhouse Advisory Committee is committed to
assisting the development of the community association.
Staff will report back to the Park Board on the operation, the budget
and the joint operating agreement with the association after one full
year of operations.
Capital Budget for Furnishings and Equipment
The original list of fittings, furnishings and equipment for the
centre, the gymnasium, and the performance space, generated by the
substantial work of staff and consultants with the Roundhouse Advisory
Committee, was estimated at a value of $1,435,126. Given the
controversy over the issue of furnishings, the Board reduced the items
on the list to an amount of $846,973. In the course of continuing
negotiations with Concord, the City agreed to a further reduction of
$200,000 in basic furnishings and equipment. The items in this
$200,000 are a requirement for the basic operation of the facility.
The Board is requesting Council to approve this $200,000 from the
City's 1996 Supplemental Capital.
JUSTIFICATION
The proposed Roundhouse operation and level of funding is consistent
with the City's standard of community recreation centres. It makes
effective use of the heritage community arts and recreation facility
built in partnership with the private sector.
The proposed arts and recreation programming is consistent with
recently approved Park Board and City policies that indicate a need to
expand notions of recreation to include not only physical recreation
but also art and cultural activity at the neighbourhood level. The
overall goals are advancing interaction within a large and complex
community, providing widespread access to recreational facilities, and
creating opportunities for individual development, learning and
expression.
The concept for the Roundhouse is unique in Vancouver and perhaps
North America. With the community arts and recreation designation,
appropriately skilled staff, and sufficient funding, the Roundhouse
will become integrated into the daily life of the community, and staff
will collaborate with community members in dealing with common issues,
values, frustrations and dreams. It will be a centre where all are
encouraged to participate and where there is a new interaction between
the arts and other traditional recreational activities.
* * * * *
APPENDIX A
ANNUAL ROUNDHOUSE BUDGET
SALARIES $352,200
Co-ordinator $ 49,619
4 Programmers $148,652
Operations Manager $ 37,163
2 Recreation Facility Clerks $ 60,704
2 Cashier/Clerk Typists $ 56,028
FRINGE BENEFITS $ 61,600
AUXILIARY STAFF $238,100
Cashier/clerk 101hr/wk $ 93,746
Bldg superv'n 89hr/wk $ 79,456
Vact'n Relief 420hr/yr $ 7,474
Youth/Srs/Vol 60hr/wk $ 57,440
FRINGE BENEFITS $ 20,300
AUTO ALLOWANCE $ 2,500
TELEPHONE $ 20,000
ADMINISTRATION CONTRACTS $ 10,000
ADMINISTRATION SUPPLIES $ 15,000
PROGRAM CONTRACTS $152,500
PROGRAM SUPPLIES $ 28,500
JANITORIAL MAINTENANCE $137,000
BUILDING MAINTENANCE $112,400
UTILITIES $ 84,300
JANITORIAL SUPPLIES & EQUIPMENT $ 17,500
TOTAL ROUNDHOUSE BUDGET $1,251,900
==========
APPENDIX A-1
WEST END C.C. COMPLEX
Facility Budget Complex Centre Rink Fitness Barclay TOTAL
Centre
Salaries [incl. 4 307,5 83,600 113,300 504,400
prog.] 00
Youth programs 31,700 31,700
FB 52,90 9,800 17,600 80,300
0
AUX 34,20 60,000 46,700 36,700 47,600 225,200
0
FB 2,900 5,100 4,000 3,100 4,000 19,100
Auto 1,500 1,500
Telephone 600 14,600 15,200
Contents 4,300 600 3,200 4,300 12,400
Supplies 12,00 3,900 5,900 3,900 25,700
0
Maintenance 392,200 193,500 6,500 592,200
Utilities 103,700 5,400 109,100
Gross Expenditure 1,616,800
Rink Revenue 124,200
Fitness Ctr. Revenue 263,600
Net Expenditure 1,229,000
KERRISDALE C.C. COMPLEX
Facility Budget 758,000 528,200 475,200 1,761,400
Rink Revenue 208,500
Pool Revenue 255,900
Net 1,297,000
APPENDIX A-1
KITSILANO C.C. COMPLEX
Facility Budget 172,800 415,200 185,300 537,100 1,310,400
Rink Revenue 293,300
Pool Revenue 349,900
Net 667,200
RILEY PARK. C.C.
Facility Budget 351,1 310,500 354,100 709,800 1,725,500
00
Rink Revenue 162,700
Pool Revenue 336,600
Net 1,226,200
KILLARNEY C.C. COMPLEX
Facility Budget 260,900 377,800 468,900 547,400 1,655,000
Rink Revenue 183,000
Pool Revenue 323,000
Net 1,149,000
APPENDIX B
Page 1 of 2
SUMMARY OF PROFESSIONAL STAFF RESPONSIBILITIES
Community Arts and Recreation Co-ordinator
Personnel
identifies staff needs; manages hiring process including job
descriptions; supervises all full-time and part-time staff; identifies
and provides access to appropriate training; ensures staff awareness
of governing policies; evaluates job performance; responds to problems
identified by staff.
Community Development
participates in community planning processes; assists programmers in
identifying program needs of the community; responds to needs of
community in accordance with Park Board policy; reviews trends and new
directions in community art and recreation programming; identifies
gaps in recreational and social services and suggests/facilitates
solutions; identifies and creates partnership opportunities with
public and private individuals and organizations; originates
multi-cultural programming; represents the Park Board to the
community; conducts presentations to the public on issues related to
community art and recreation and the operation of the Roundhouse.
Policy and Administration
maintains and upholds Park Board policies; provides interpretations to
local boards and groups; coordinates information from the community to
policy levels; reviews and reports on impact of policy on community;
analyses statistical data and writes reports; develops and monitors all management systems; coordinates work flow; oversees program
registration; delegates responsibilities to full-time, part-time, and
contract staff; provides direction in program promotion; oversees
program space, equipment and staff usage, and identifies strengths and
weaknesses in the operation.
Appendix B
Page 2 of 2
Finance and Budget
analyses expenditure and revenue positions; responsible for all
payroll, contract, and programming expenses; monitors budget;
recommends to the area manager on major changes; provides budget
training to staff; ensures proper cash handling; supervises point of
sale systems, particularly the association's; supervises weekly
deposits.
Community Association
Recruits association members from the community; undertakes board
development; leads development of long and short-term goals and
objectives and policy; advises on Park Board policies; identifies
issues in the community requiring association response; advises the
association on recreation and community art issues and trends;
maintains knowledge of all administrative functions of the
association; assists with fundraising strategies and initiatives.
Community Arts and Recreation Programmers
Conduct needs assessments in the community and undertake process to
program development; undertake committee work within centre leading to
policy development and goal-setting; ongoing assessment of patron
participation in facility; schedule programs; liaise with other
agencies or organizations and develop collaborative partnerships;
undertake site and equipment supervision; partake in Arts Team,
Emergency Social Services, youth program development and other
city-wide responsibilities; participate in hiring, training
supervision, and evaluation of part-time and contract staff;
participate in program promotion; maintain statistical information;
identify safety issues and handle injuries; participate in design of
management systems and manage implementation; handle complaints,
inquiries and requests; prepare reports; administer budget and monitor
cash handling within program areas; enforce rules and policies;
undertake operation of all physical recreation equipment, seating and
staging, and, in liaison with technical director and staff, lighting
and sound equipment, installation systems, pottery wheels and kilns;
initiate requisitions for materials and equipment.
* * * * *
APPENDIX C
Page 1 of 2
OVERVIEW OF SUPPORT STAFF FUNCTIONS
Building Service Staff
This building will not have a Stationary Equipment Operator. However,
it is large and, being a redevelopment of a heritage facility, will
have numerous inefficiencies in areas such as heating and ventilation
and in the design of people circulation within the building. It
requires therefore a staff person to coordinate the facility
operation, and included in the staffing complement of the recommended
budget is an operations manager. This position is designated to take
on all of the issues related to the management of the actual facility,
that is, supervision of building and janitorial staff, security,
heating ventilation and air conditioning, repairs, maintenance,
equipment and supplies; Occupational Health and Safety training;
liaison with the Operations Division; room set-up and take-down; and
other issues such as the parking lot management and the large urban
plazas surrounding the facility. A facility of this nature, with its
multitude of publics, will generate numerous duties, problems and
public complaints and demands that consume incredible amounts of time.
These types of activities will otherwise prevent the coordinator and
programmers from concentrating on the essential requirements of their
jobs. The recommended budget for janitorial services is based on a
need to have staff able to do the main cleaning on an early shift but
also to have staff working in the building on an afternoon shift and
weekends to maintain an adequate standard of cleanliness throughout
each day.
Instruction and Leadership
Most of the Park Board auxiliary staff budget for centres is spent on
maintaining the administration of the operation, program registration
and the security of the building. Some of the funds are used to hire
program assistants to provide direct leadership in the subsidized
areas. In this budget there is an allocation for 35 hours a week for
youth and seniors programming, and 25 hours a week for volunteer
development and coordination. As in all other centres, all other
instruction and leadership will be covered by fees generated by the
fee for service program.
Appendix C
Page 2 of 2
Technical Support
Technical support is another necessary part of this unique operation
to ensure that community users of the facility are provided with the
required expertise. The technical director is as critical as the
programmers to the development, maintenance and training in the use of
the community performance and exhibition spaces. This includes the
management of specialized equipment. This position is also important
as part of the team in the development of programming and productions.
This report recommends contracting with a technical director who will
assume responsibility for all technical requirements and additional
staffing.
Support Staff
Recreation facility clerks, cashier/clerk/typists, building/ site
attendants and program assistants are the support staff. The staffing
schedules, based on the experience of larger centres like the West
End, take into consideration such issues as a high volume of
participation, customer service, security, and the need to cover off
breaks and vacations for regular fulltime staff. Cashiering and
building supervision are another part of the regular staffing
requirement. When the activity in either of the arts facilities is a
directly operated association program, the Board will recover the
costs for the technical and support staff through the establishment of
a charge back system.
Building Maintenance
Environment and Operations staff have based their estimates on
information about the Roundhouse building as it is available at this
time, combined with costs of similar size building operations. The
actual cost of utilities, power engineering maintenance requirements
and trades maintenance will need to be confirmed by experience.
* * * * *