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Vienna residents hope to save their community centre

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A group of Bayham citizens are concerned about the fate of the Vienna Community Centre.

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Newly formed Bayham Residents Asking for Transparency (BRATs) is to trying to save the building, which has been declared surplus, from being sold by the Municipality of Bayham.

There was no public involvement before the decision to make it surplus, says BRAT member Rose Sofalvi Beuk, noting the group is working toward presenting a council delegation.

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“It seems like it actually goes back to 2015-2016 when there was an engineer who was asked to do a study on the two community centres, the one in Straffordville and the one here in Vienna,” said Solfalvi Beuk. “So the one he said would be the better building to keep, if we needed to surplus one, then we should keep the Vienna Community Centre because it’s a solid building made of brick and also because it has a kitchen in it, the hall portion, and also the basement where meetings can take place.

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“However, the council overruled the engineer’s report and a group got together in Straffordville and formed (a committee).”

In July 2014 the Straffordville Community Centre had been ‘temporarily’ closed. At the time it was expected the closure would last until November. It didn’t immediately re-open. Declared surplus by the municipality, despite being eligible for a $250,000 grant from the Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program, with a matching funds formula, it was put up for sale.

“They did not turn it (the grant) down… they have not accepted it either,” noted Marni Wolfe in October 2015, who presented a delegation on behalf of The Concerned Residents of Bayham Committee, formed by residents wanting to preserve the Straffordville Community Centre as a public facility.

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“At the time, there was a grant available to improve the Vienna Community Centre,” said Sofalvi Beuk, “but because they changed their mind and decided to stay with the Straffordville hall, that grant money was returned and ultimately spent on the Straffordville hall.”

Without the Vienna Community Centre, says Sofalvi Beuk, Vienna has limited green space and meeting space. In comparison, she says Straffordville has a community centre, ball diamond, children’s playground, concrete area for basketball in summer, churches, and library.

On June 11, joint federal and provincial funding was announced for the rehabilitation and expansion of the Straffordville Community Centre. The federal portion would be $801,320, and the provincial portion $667,099. The Municipality of Bayham would be expected to contribute $534,881 to the project.

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Once completed the Straffordville Community Centre would include additional change rooms, canteen, universal washroom, and commercial kitchen. The funding would also result in a new accessible walking trail, pavilion and sports field building repair and upgraded lighting inside the community centre.

Those plans would further enhance Straffordville’s community centre, said Sofalvie Beuk, leaving communities like Vienna, Port Burwell and others without a gathering place.

“This is unfair that one area continues to gain while all other areas have their surplus pooled to enhance Straffordville,” says Sofalvi Beuk.

The next scheduled council meeting on the Bayham website is August 19.

There is an online petition to ‘Save the Vienna Community Centre’ which as of Monday had 755 signatures. The BRAT group is also going door-to-door, bringing the collected signatures over 1,200.

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In 2015, a petition was also created to help save the Straffordville Community Centre. It had 577 signatures within the first week. Council also gave people the opportunity to voice their opinion by sending in letters. Thirty-one were in favour, 30 not in favour, but Wolfe had said in 2015 that “we didn’t feel it was a representation of what the whole municipality wanted, and that’s why when we heard they were moving forward with the sale we thought we’d better do something… because there are a lot of people who really, really want to keep it.”

Six years later it’s the Vienna Community Centre that is surplus and facing a potential sale, although that decision has not been made yet.

cabbott@postmedia.com

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