December 28, 2011
Town opts out of
Visitors Centre
by Vance Gutzman
And then there was one.
Laurentian Hills is now on its own in terms of municipal funding for
the Visitors Centre at the Petawawa Research Forest (PRF).
That comes after last week's decision by Deep River council to opt out
of the funding agreement for the centre.
Deep River based its decision to do so partly on the fact that Head,
Clara and Maria and the Town of Petawawa have already withdrawn from
the centre's operating agreement.
"That made our decision easier," Deputy Mayor Daniel Banks said of
Petawawa's recent decision to opt out.
"We'd pretty well have to double our investment."
Deep River contributed $5,750 towards the cost of running the Visitors
Centre this year - the same as it has for the past three years.
Petawawa contributed the same amount, while Laurentian Hills
contributed $2,000 each year, though the latter municipality's
contributions included the administrative costs for the centre, coupled
with in-kind services.
Councillor Terry Myers, who chairs Deep River's planning and
development committee (from which the resolution sprang to opt out)
said the decision to do so came from more than Petawawa's recent move.
"It's fair to say we've had reservations about the effectiveness
of this site, and this agreement, regardless of the other two parties
dropping out," he told council, adding that 1,800 people visited the
centre over the course of this past summer, and half of them were only
there for bathroom breaks.
"We were concerned that we weren't getting value for our money."
Councillor Katie Robertson, in her second meeting at the council table,
voted in favour of the resolution to opt out, but not without
expressing reservations.
"It seems to be an unfortunate turn of events," she said.
"I'm disappointed that this has happened."
Robertson said she hopes the town, now that it has opted out of the
Visitors Centre, will be looking hard for a different venue, possibly
right in downtown Deep River.
Last week's opting-out resolution did leave the door open for the
Visitors Centre at PRF, in that it states that the town is still open
for discussions with both PRF and Laurentian Hills regarding future
uses for the facility.
“We're not just walking away from it,” Myers said.
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