The Ruby Lake Lagoon Nature Reserve Society will likely not get a $275,000 grant from the federal government.
"If this doesn't go through, it's a very sad day for the community," said Michael Jackson, president of the non-profit society.
However, he added, "It's not the end of the world. We're going ahead with the project. We're seeking funding from all sorts of foundations."
The grant from the Softwood Industry Community Economic Adjustment Initiative (SICEAI) was conditional on the Ruby Lake Lagoon society raising matching funds. According to Jackson, the society has raised about $300,000 through donation of the land and in-kind contributions, as well as about $85,000 in cash. The total budget for the proposed Iris Griffith Field Studies and Interpretive Centre is more than $900,000. The lagoon society plans to construct a 4,500 square foot "green" building employing geothermal, wind and solar energy sources, reclaimed and recycled building materials and a reed bed for treating grey water. The centre would be built near the Ruby Lake lagoon, but not on the waterfront, to avoid impact on the sensitive breeding sites for birds and animals. It would provide research opportunities and field study courses in partnership with Capilano College and UBC.
Jackson said much of the cash raised by the society has already been spent on rezoning the land and other preparatory work.
"We had the zoning without a single objection, just one person after another applauding the project," he said. "We know it's a good project and we know it will employ people. That was the whole idea [behind SICEAI], to produce sustainable employment."
Jackson expressed frustration that the in-kind donations don't count toward matching the federal funds and that the grant money must be spent before March 31, 2005.
"They keep moving the goalposts It's a ridiculous time scale," said Jackson. "They're asking us to complete the whole project by March 31. We can't jeopardize the whole project by rushing it. We want to do this right and build the finest example of a green building in all of B.C."
The Sunshine Coast Regional District, the Town of Gibsons and MP John Reynolds all support the project and have asked the federal government to extend the deadline for raising matching funds.
John Rees, SCRD director for Pender Harbour, said the loss of the SICEAI funding would be quite a blow.
"That is an extremely valuable small project," he said. "It doesn't seem like it's a best practice to me. You don't always have the best results rushing into projects and insisting the money be spent by a certain date."
Al Mulholland, executive director of Community Futures, said Stephen Owen, the Minister of Western Economic Diversification, has promised the society can still get funding if it raises the matching cash "as soon as possible." Mulholland said the Ruby Lake lagoon society has already received three deadline extensions. "They're running out of deadlines," he said. "The government, myself, we all think it's a great project and it has great community support. But they don't have the funds yet $900,000 for a non-profit group is a big project."
Mulholland said especially since the sponsorship scandal hit the news, the federal government wants to make sure any project receiving a grant will be successful.
"If they don't have the money to complete the project, it's a black eye for the government," he said.
The federal government created the $60 million SICEAI fund in response to the softwood trade war with the U.S. It is intended to ease the hardship in forestry-dependent communities by diversifying their economies. Out of more than 30 applications for SICEAI grants from the Sunshine Coast, three were successful: the Ruby Lake lagoon education centre, the Skookumchuck Heritage Society's proposal to build a washroom, museum and parking lot near Skookumchuck Provincial Park and the District of Sechelt's plan to establish a community forest.
The Skookumchuck project, which received a $225,000 SICEAI grant, is under construction now. Jackson said it was a "very serious loss to the community" that so little of the SICEAI money came to the Sunshine Coast.
Mulholland said with more than 1,100 applications and only $60 million in the pot, the federal government imposed stringent requirements for the grants. The Sunshine Coast lost out largely because of the difficulty of raising the matching funds for grants, he said.
"In other communities, local government put in a lot of money or they were able to raise it from the private sector. People want to leave a legacy," he said. "On the Sunshine Coast, we have human capital but we lack investment capital. That's one reason we need an economic development officer."
