Port Moody Coun. Diana Dilworth wants to see the city build a new library before it pursues the Inlet Park redevelopment project.
At Tuesday's council meeting, Dilworth voted against a motion to add the park project to the budget process to determine its priority status and funding source, saying the library should take priority over new sports fields.
"We still owe money on the recreation centre, we still owe money on the public safety building. If we are to choose one capital project, it should be the library," Dilworth said, adding funds that were set aside for the library several years ago were bumped for the fire hall.
"We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars upgrading the field facilities in Port Moody and it's time we start focusing our efforts on the library," Dilworth added.
In May, council voted to pursue the Inlet Park redevelopment project with a single field on the western edge of the site, along a north-south alignment, and that there be no encroachment into the forest on the eastern end.
Councillors Gerry Nuttall and Zoe Royer agreed with Dilworth's concerns but said Tuesday's motion was simply a way to determine the city's capital project priorities.
Coun. Rosemary Small reiterated her suggestion that a corporate sponsor should be found to pay for the new fields.
Building a single field represents a phased approach to the priciest of three options presented to council in May.
The original Option C includes a softball field, two soccer fields, a field house, batting cage and 104 parking stalls at a total cost of $5.7 million.
Staff estimated the cost of building the first phase, which would include a soccer field and baseball diamond, at $2.7 million.
