Metro Vancouver is looking at potential future uses for the Boundary Bay Regional Park Centennial Beach pavilion concession building.
A staff report to the Regional Parks Committee notes staff are currently engaged with a consultant team comprising architects, business/budgeting professionals and a kitchen consultant to evaluate potential uses.
The study is comparing the current facility with concepts of possible future configurations providing combinations of food services and public use of the pavilion space, the report notes, adding the analysis will also examine park operational impacts and any capital improvements.
The report also states the viability for potential concessionaires/food service providers, as well as public amenities will be reviewed.
If a reconfiguration of the space is recommended based on the consultants’ work, detailed design and construction would be budgeted in future years.
Centennial Beach is municipally owned land that is leased to Metro Vancouver to manage as part of Boundary Bay Regional Park.
Costing more than $2 million when it opened, the pavilion building houses washrooms and change rooms as well the eatery that has indoor and outdoor seating.
The contracted food and non-alcoholic beverage café operates only seasonally, from mid-April to mid-October.
A staff report to the committee last year stated that since the building’s opening in 2012, the equipment included in the food preparation/food storage areas have required frequent and costly repairs.
It has also proven difficult at times to attract contractors to operate the concession given the financial and staffing challenges of the seasonal operation.
