City facing $9M shortfall for future sports field needs
NANAIMO — The City of Nanaimo is going to have to find another way to pay for millions of dollars worth of sports field upgrades over the next two decades.
As part of their development cost charge (DCC) review, the City proposed to partially pay for a number of future projects with money collected from developers. However, when the new proposal was sent to the province for review, the government rejected seven of the projects, saying they weren’t eligible for the DCC program.
The proposed projects, totaling more than $18.5 million, included stadium developments, several turf fields, upgrades at Gyro four fields and 10 sets of bleachers. The City’s Dale Lindsay said the DCCs would have paid for roughly half of the total cost, leaving the City at least $9 million short.
When asked where that money would come from, Lindsay said “That would have to come from general revenue…taxation.”