HAY RIVER - A new home may have been found for the Hay River Community Youth Centre.

The Hay River Community Youth Centre currently sits on land zoned commercial, and the municipality wants it moved. - NNSL file photo

Next month, town council will officially consider the idea of moving the youth centre to the old pool area of the town's recreation centre.

The youth centre is currently operated in a building on Woodland Drive.

However, the town wants the youth centre and the nearby Hay River Soup Kitchen moved off the land because it is zoned commercial.

Rev. Don Flumerfelt, the chair of the youth centre, said the Hay River Ministerial Association supports the idea of moving to the old pool, which he said was suggested by council.

"We see it as an opportunity to turn a new page," Flumerfelt said.

The youth centre is an offshoot of the ministerial association.

Flumerfelt said one advantage of the old pool would be the youth centre wouldn't have to spend a lot of money on operation and maintenance, and would have more to put into programming.

The proposed site would also triple the amount of space for the youth centre.

"There are many more possibilities," Flumerfelt said of having that extra space.

For example, he said the youth centre has had fitness equipment for several years, but nowhere to set it up.

The Roman Catholic priest said, if the idea is approved by council, the youth centre will remain open at its current site until the end of August and will then be moved to the old pool and reopened in the fall.

Mayor Kelly Schofield said the new site will be considered by council's Committee of the Whole on May 10 and could be voted on at the regular council meeting on May 31.

Schofield said, in his discussions with council members, everyone thinks it's a good idea, although he said no official decision has been made.

The old pool area will require some renovations, including a floor to cover the pool.

Schofield said the old pool area would be leased by the ministerial association.

The youth centre is currently operating in two attached trailers, which were donated to the ministerial association in the late 1990s.

As for the Soup Kitchen, which subleases a section of the Woodland Drive lot from the ministerial association, a proposal is under consideration by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mackenzie to allow it to move to church land.

The status of the youth centre and the Soup Kitchen became controversial issues last summer.

They have been at their current site for 14 years, but that was supposed to be on a temporary, year-to-year basis.

The lease expired in 2005 and was not renewed.

The matter came to a head in July when the Hay River branch of the Royal Canadian Legion donated $60,000 to the Soup Kitchen, which applied to the town for a permit to install an upgraded trailer on the Woodland Drive lot. The permit was denied.

The Soup Kitchen's new home – an $89,000 used trailer – has been sitting at a Hay River business since last year waiting for the land issue to be worked out.