Letter to the Editor

This is a copy of a letter that was sent to City of Cranbrook Mayor and council.

We are writing this letter to address the serious and harmful issue of KEYSA requesting the start of the construction on the soccer dome in August, effectively cutting our season in half.

Cutting the season in half for Cranbrook BMX will directly affect our athletes’ abilities to participate in a sufficient number of race events, thus rendering our athletes un-competitive in BMX Canada national ranking system. This is not fair and completely unacceptable.

If a hockey team is not allowed to complete its regular scheduled season, can they compete in playoff games?

If a soccer team is faced with the same disadvantage, can they possibly compete in the championship match?

Cranbrook BMX is requesting its athletes not face the disadvantage of a season being cut short. These kids and young adults should be allowed to complete our season in full without interruption as council has previously voted on. This was the compromise all parties agreed to as acceptable, completing our season giving KEYSA the opportunity to start construction before winter.

Would KEYSA agree to such a proposal that would leave its athletes at a disadvantage?

Our full season runs from May to October. We have been exceptionally cooperative and willing to work with council, city staff over the past years while KEYSA works towards the completion of their project. This has all been to the benefit of KEYSA, resulting in Cranbrook BMX losing one-third of our current land space and having to fight daily to prove that we are viable.

We hope that the council moves forward with due diligence and a prudent non bias approach. As such to avoid situations faced less than a year ago, when it was voted to remove the Cranbrook BMX track completely and allow KEYSA to build in its place, completely ignoring the city councils duty for due diligence and disregarding a Legal License of Occupation that we hold with the city.

Why, over the past several months, are discussions surrounding the KEYSA soccer dome again being held in closed meetings when it directly impacts other interest groups and Cranbrook taxpayers? With over $100,000 dollars of taxpayer money as well as hundreds of city staff hours going directly toward the KEYSA project these discussions should be taking place in open council meetings not behind closed doors.

Is council allowing the project to move forward when the group does not have enough funds in the bank to complete the project. Will the taxpayer foot the bill if this project is started then funding runs out to complete it?

What about other events that will be affected and may no longer be able to take place in our downtown park such as Winter Blitzville when the dome is put in this location? Where is the transparency this council promised?

The KEYSA Dome project did not go ahead last year when we completed our season and had everything lined up to rebuild, what was the delay then?

KEYSA has delayed their own project for over three years now, turning down several suitable locations for their project (ie: Moir Park, Pop Price Park) within the city that would have not resulted in the many issues that were said to have delayed their project why now the urgency to take away from our season to start theirs without delay? Again, having to ask our families who choose BMX as their sport to give up an opportunity to compete and realize their full potential is absurd to say the least. This is disheartening to think any member of council would find such an action acceptable.

We are a not-for-profit youth sports team being asked to stop our season halfway through so another group can complete a construction project in time to start making a profit in peak season.

The KEYSA soccer dome is being built for a select group of people that are willing to pay to use it.

The Cranbrook BMX track is open to the public for free, giving our youth and families a place to go and ride their bikes free of charge when we are not holding weekly races, practises and events. Just because we are a smaller group with less money should not mean we should continually be discounted. Having proven that Cranbrook BMX is not only viable but can hold a successful season with hundreds of kids racing at Cranbrook BMX over the course of our last season. Holding provincial level events, bringing in families from all over B.C., Alberta, Idaho and Washington.

Biking is a vital part of Cranbrook tourism and this includes BMX racing at Cranbrook BMX track.

Cranbrook BMX Board of Directors

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