Valemount hits the brakes on pump track
By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG
The Valemount and Area Recreation Development Association (VARDA) has shelved its plans for a pump track in Valemount after not being able to find land to lease.
VARDA received $120,000 for the pump track from the Columbia Basin Trust’s Resident-Directed Grant program in 2024. That money will be returned to the Trust and added to this year’s ReDi grant pool, according to VARDA Executive Director Curtis Pawliuk. Additionally, the association has $5,000 left over from pump track fundraisers. Pawliuk says Project Pump It Up – the VARDA committee which was spearheading the pump track efforts – will meet soon to determine what to do with these funds.
In a letter discussed during the December 10th Valemount Council meeting, Pawliuk wrote that the Village’s proposed options for the land lease were not viable.
“Primary issues include non-negotiable costs, such as annual property taxes and surveying costs, on a non-revenue generating asset,” Pawliuk wrote. “The cost of insurance and planning for the asset management lifecycle are unfortunately significant barriers to success that we could not overcome.”
The association will retain the pump track design should an opportunity to revisit the plans arise in the future, Pawliuk added.
In an interview with The Goat, Pawliuk said the end of Pump It Up is unfortunate, but the project is not an entirely lost cause.
“We’re so proud of the community for stepping up and for the fundraising and work that was done,” Pawliuk said. “The plan still exists, so the money’s not all wasted. And if the Village, somebody else, or VARDA in the future finds the right place to put the pump track, it’s still possible.”
Likewise, Committee Chair Sean Kelly said he found it unfortunate that the association could not strike an agreement with the Village.
“It’s ultimately very disappointing that we couldn’t come to a land use agreement that would help benefit the community,” he told The Goat.
Additionally, Kelly said the committee reached out to several communities with pump tracks to explore their economic impacts, and felt it was feasible for the Village to take the pump track on as an asset.
During the March 26th, 2024 meeting of Valemount Council, staff submitted a report recommending that the Village decline the committee’s proposal to take the pump track on as an asset. Staff estimated that building the pump track would cost roughly $1.6M – translating to an 8.4 per cent property tax increase. According to the report, taking the pump track on as a Village asset would have made the Village responsible for maintenance, insurance, and collecting an annual amortization cost which would fund replacement or removal of the infrastructure at the end of its life.
According to CAO Anne Yanciw, Village staff contacted eight to ten communities with pump tracks to inquire about maintenance requirements and costs. All of the communities had larger populations than Valemount – the smallest community had a population of 3,400, about three times larger than Valemount’s population of 1,052 – which Yanciw said made it difficult to estimate costs.
Only one community was used to estimate the cost of track maintenance: Kitimat, a community of about 8,600 people. According to Yanciw, Kitimat’s pump track was double the size of the one proposed for Valemount, so staff reduced costs proportionately to estimate the cost of maintaining a similar track.
“We understand VARDA’s concerns over taking on a significant asset such as this,” Yanciw added. “They are likely the same concerns the Village would have.”
Kelly said the Pump it Up committee’s findings were very different from what staff reported.
“We worked really hard to get good quality information to Council and to Village staff,” Kelly said. “It just wasn’t enough to show that this is a viable and important piece of infrastructure that would help build the community.”
