Georgian Bluffs staff are recommending a new reduced facility rental rate for a pickleball club, after an initial proposal prompted equity concerns among councillors.
A report from township CAO Niall Lobley recommends offering the Georgian Bluffs Pickleball Club a rate of $17.21 an hour for its use of the Kemble Community Centre arena floor.
Lobley says it’s a 33.8 per cent discount from the full rate, which is the same deal the township provides for hockey and skating at Shallow Lake Community Centre.
“Staff approached the Georgian Bluffs Pickleball Club with this, and the club has indicated that this is acceptable,” Lobley says in his report. “However, in order to ensure that there is membership interest that is able to sustain this, they will reduce their hours from 34 to 10 per week.”
The report says the new club will continue to look at opportunities for growth and to add youth programming sometime this year.
Georgian Bluffs council will discuss Lobley’s report and recommendation at its meeting Wednesday evening.
Last month, council reviewed a proposal in committee of the whole for a three-year agreement with a newly launched pickleball club that would have offered a heavily discounted facilities rental rate of $6.50/hour.
But there was some discussion among township councillors about the proposal being “inequitable” because the Georgian Bluffs Pickleball Club would be getting a more favourable rental rate than existing users.
