Although slowed by a petition several months ago opposing its development, the new Centennial Park ‘Log Cabin’ after- school care and recreation centre is still progressing forward. According to town officials, while there are several hurdles still to overcome, a section of Centennial Park could soon be subdivided to make way for the facility.

“We don’t want the project to be stopped by just a few people,” said Jasper Town Manager George Krefting. “We still have to listen however, because that’s the fair thing to do.”

In the meantime, a waiting list for after- school care spots has begun.

He estimates that the project could be completed as early as next summer.

“We’d probably be building right now if it wasn’t for the petition... That petition started up a different process,” he said.

The current proposal for the new ‘Log Cabin’ states that it will sit in the southwestern part of Centennial Park, next to the existing Log Cabin and across from the adjacent senior’s home. While its focus will be on providing after-school care and summer fun programs, it could also be rented out for other events subject to availability. The existing cabin will not be torn down and will operate alongside the new cabin.

The town has budgeted $250,000 (to come from the province) for the project in the 2010 capital budget.

Krefting said the new cabin was needed to provide child care services because the existing cabin is too small for large groups of children.

Initially, the town plan was to rezone all of the Centennial Park as an area where the cabin could be built — although the building would not occupy that entire space. The petition against the new cabin stopped this from happening. It required that the town go through Parks Canada’s Planning Development Advisory Committee, which recommended that only a portion of the park be zoned for construction of the cabin.

The existing cabin was built before such zoning changes were necessary.

According to Dave Kreizenbeck, realty advisor in municipal/realty services for Jasper National Park, the park is currently in the process of assessing the value of the portion of Centennial Park which will be used for the cabin.

Krefting and Kreizenbeck estimated that this process should be finished by the end of the month.

The town still has to go through the tendering process for the building. They also have to decide whether or not the fees and taxes that parks will require for the use of the land are worth paying.

Parks will require the town to pay a one- time 10 per cent fee based on the average value of the land should they decide to build the cabin there.

Both Krefting and Kreizenbeck said  they did not yet know how much the sub-divided land will be worth.

The leading organizer for the petition against the log cabin to parks was Jasper resident Howard Schultz, who lives near Centennial Park.

“It’s the same problem that you’ve got when the proverbial camel is sticking its head into your tent. How long until it’s in the tent entirely and you’re out in the desert in the cold?” said Schultz. He worries that if one building goes into the park, more could follow, especially if the initial plan to rezone the entire park went ahead.

He said he’s talked to all the people who live in the homes around the proposed cabin and the general consensus was that everyone opposes the building.

Six names are listed on the petition.

He said that his other prime concerns  about the cabin were the noise, increased nuisances, the effect on the nearby senior’s home, and the loss of green space inside the park.

“We don’t want skateboarders and whoever hanging around there at all times of the day,” said Schultz. “Day use for rugby or soccer or whatever is fine, but just the day.”

He compared the facility to the current high school debate, saying that the plan to build the new high school inside the dog park was just as bad as the plan to build inside Centennial Park. He said that it would be much wiser to build the day-care facility next to the schools or beside the existing day care centre.

According to Kathleen Waxer, manager of family and children’s services, there is a waiting list of at least 11 for after school programming due to a lack of space. The current program is able to handle 30 students.