The City of White Rock is taking an unusual step in agreeing to help the White Rock Lawn Bowling Club out of a financial crunch.

The club is facing an unforeseen cost overrun of $24,083.75 for its new artificial playing surface, due to excess garbage and debris discovered when the site was being excavated, and also problems tying into city sewer lines.

Council has agreed to fund the overrun out of its contingency budget – but minus the $10,000 the club owes the city as its annual payment for a 10-year funding agreement.

"The club did ask the city to reconsider the terms of the loan, but we decided against that," Mayor Catherine Ferguson said last week, following release of an earlier in-camera decision at the Oct. 26 council meeting.

She noted the club, which celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2010, will host the Canadian Mixed Pairs lawn bowling championship in September next year.

'"We wanted to ensure the facility is operational for that – it's something that will be very good for White Rock," she said.

"The people who are coming to that are people who are not billeted out – they're going to need a place to stay, which is good for local hotels and a lot of our other businesses."

Ferguson added the club, which operates from a city-owned building and property on Dolphin Street, has already received regional interest from other clubs because of the new playing surface, and has already done much fundraising on its own to help offset the overrun.

White Rock Lawn Bowling Club past-president Jim Logan credited current president Arlene McGinn, currently visiting England, for persuading council to help the club out of its predicament.

"There were certain costs (for the project), such as hookup charges, we felt, as a council, that the city should have been responsible for," said Coun Lynne Sinclair, acting mayor at the Oct. 26 meeting.

"It is unusual. We put a lot of thought into it, but it seemed the thing to do under the circumstances."