The City of Cranbrook is sticking with its decision to take advantage of a provincial childcare grant.
The city’s grant proposal would see a portion of Gyro Park developed into a childcare facility.
MORE: Gyro Park preferred location for potential childcare centre (May 28, 2024)
Mayor Wayne Price said they have received a lot of backlash over the decision.
“There’s a been a lot of negative feedback towards the city because we got involved in a service that local government probably isn’t responsible for.”
But he said no one else was willing to do the work.
“Nobody stepped up to the plate,” Price said.
“There are funding opportunities right now and the City of Cranbrook said we need daycare. Really what we are doing is just providing the land and the province is going to step up and build it.”
The city tried to work something out with the local school district but Price said they were only interested in before and after school care.
“We had been meeting with the school district for the past two years,” he said.
“We assumed just by the very nature of the Ministry of Education and Childcare that they would step up, but they did not.”
City staff said the before and after school care will address the needs of some families in Cranbrook but doesn’t address those needing all-day childcare.
The land for the potential facility needs to be on city-owned land, which is hard to come by.
Council believed the underutilized section of Gyro Park made the most sense.
The playground, swings and pickleball and tennis courts won’t be touched and city staff said more park amenities may be added.
The park along with the majority of other city-owned green spaces is already zoned for a childcare facility.
City staff said most parks were not created for natural habitat preservation and are zoned for libraries, museums, art galleries, tourist information centres and cemeteries among other things.
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