Three Cumberland community organizations will be receiving operational funding through the Village for the next five years, but the available funding was not enough to satisfy all of their requests.
At Monday’s meeting, Cumberland council approved dividing the budgeted $37,000 for the Community Grant Program between three organizations, Cumberland Community Schools Society, Cumberland Events Society and United Riders of Cumberland, with the addition of approximately $11,000 for 2019 only. The addition will be funded through some leftover money in the Host Community agreement for the Comox Valley Waste Management Centre, which runs until 2032.
CCSS will receive $17,000 for 2019 ($20,000 requested) and $14,000 for the next four years. CES will receive $14,600 for 2019 ($14,562.76 requested) and $10,000 for the next four years. UROC will receive $15,000 for 2019 ($30,000 requested) and $13,000 for the next four years.
Acting mayor Vickey Brown clarified that the funding amounts could increase in future years depending on available money.
More funding needed for trail maintenance: UROC
A representative of UROC, Evan Loveless, was present at the council meeting Monday and expressed his disapproval of the proposal process and his concern about the amount of money allocated to the non-profit. Receiving only half of the requested funds for 2019 will make it difficult for the organization to effectively maintain the trails, he said.
“What’s going on out there on the trail network, it’s just not sustainable and until we can figure out a sustainable funding mechanism for that, we’re probably going to have to ask the Village to not market the trails anymore until we can figure out how to adequately fund them,” said Loveless.
While UROC is building some new trails, Loveless added the vast majority of the money goes to maintaining what’s already there. According to their funding proposal, in 2018, the cost of trail management totalled $57,163.
“It’s a maintenance issue to be honest. We also may have to relook at the commitments we made under our land use agreement because we may not be able to meet them, which will affect access and other things.”
The land use agreement that was reached in 2015 details UROC’s responsibility of managing the 70 kilometres of trails in Cumberland.
READ MORE: Land access agreement reached Cumberland-area for forest lands
Kaelin Chambers, economic development co-ordinator with the Village, replied that he is currently not promoting mountain biking as an economic driver in the community until sustainable revenue streams are found.
“I’m quite happy right now to let other regional partners take the leadership roles in promoting the mountain biking in this region because I know we are at a capacity level,” he said.
UROC receives revenue from memberships and grants. Acting mayor Vickey Brown added that the Village continues to search for new revenue sources.
jolene.rudisuela@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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