A Collingwood club is hoping council will give-em a c-h-a-n-c-e to come back to Collingwood with a new training facility.
CheerCore is a cheer and tumbling club that started in Collingwood 10 years ago.
However, the squad lost its practice space near the Collingwood Regional Airport.
Collingwood Regional Airport's general manager Pierre Lajoie, confirmed CheerCore did not rent space from the airport, but from a private enterprise on a neighbouring property.
The classes have since moved to Barrie.
Samantha Thomas and Sahil Mulla were at a council meeting Aug. 26 to plead their case and get permission for a zoning bylaw and official plan amendment that would allow them to build a new practice space in Collingwood.
Thomas was raised in Collingwood, and, at 21, started CheerCore through the Summer Company program. Since then, the competitive team has won national and provincial awards, as well as the National Cheerleaders Association Championship - an international event - in Dallas, Texas. CheerCore was the first Canadian gym to win that title.
Since losing practice space in Collingwood, the group has been travelling to Barrie for multiple training sessions every week.
“We require a facility with a minimum of 18-foot ceiling clearance and a minimum of 50 feet by 40 feet of open floor space for our spring floors,” said Thomas. She said everything like that has already been rented, or the landlords of the industrial buildings won’t subdivide smaller than 10,000 square feet.
However, there’s one building at 360 Raglan, owned by A. G. Designs Corporation (Adam Garbutt) where the owners of the cheer and tumble gym are hoping to make a home.
The proposed plan is to build an expansion onto the building to increase the size from 8,000 square feet to 10,500 square feet. Currently, the building is home to multiple tenants including Buff-it Detailing, Blue Mountain Welding Shop, Collingwood Fine Cars, Miller Contracting, and Bird Fuels. CheerCore would be an additional tenant in the new unit.
However, in order to build a training space on the back, CheerCore needs two approvals from the town.
First, to make an exception to the current uses permitted in the “industrial park” zoning to allow for a health club, and second, to reduce the setback from Pretty River to 18 metres from the 30 metres required in the town’s official plan.
The property backs onto environmentally protected lands bordering the Pretty River. There’s a certain required buffer or setback from the Pretty River of 30 metres, but in order for there to be enough room for the proposed building expansion, the newly constructed unit would be closer (18) to the river.
The Aug. 26 council meeting included the official public meeting for the proposed exemptions.
The town received no opposition to the proposed changes, and neither the town’s engineering services and the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority had any concerns.
“We want to be in Collingwood,” said Thomas. “Please help us keep our dream alive by granting the necessary zoning amendments so that we can continue to create top-notch local athletes.”
Council did not vote on the matter. There will be a staff report at a future meeting for council to receive and consider the recommendations.
