Residents asked to vote on new location for Halfmoon Bay community hall

While trying to replace the Coopers Green Hall in Halfmoon Bay, the location for the new hall is up in the air.

The Sunshine Coast Regional District is asking residents from rural areas to put in their opinion about where they’d like to see the new hall.

There are three options for where the new location could be— an upper knoll area at Coopers Green Park, at Connor Park in Halfmoon Bay with improvements to Coopers Green Park, or have the SCRD do a more detailed study of the current hall site at Coopers Green. 

The new community hall has been talked about since 2014, and until recently, only the option of a new hall being built on or near the site of the current hall at Coopers Green Park was available. 

However, it was identified that it would be at risk of damage due to sea levels rising. To alleviate the issue, it would require a substantial increase to the construction budget. A further explanation is available here.

The SCRD says all the sites have their advantages and challenges, such as the upper knoll of Cooper’s Green Park having no direct connection to the park or available parking, and would be more expensive to build on than at Connor Park. 

In Connor Park, the proposed site for the hall is on land designated as Agricultural Land Reserve and would be subject to approvals through the Agricultural Land Commission, there’s no direct bus service to the park, it wouldn’t be close to the community hub at Fawn Road, and it would increase traffic to the area.

A full list of all advantages and disadvantages are available here.

Around $350,000 of the $4.5M budget has been spent on the project so far.

The survey about the new location is available here. It will close January 20th, 2023.