VANCOUVER - Six Vancouver community associations are turning to the courts in a bid to stop the park board from taking over their operations.

The Hastings, Kensington, Kerrisdale, Killarney, Riley Park Hillcrest and Sunset community centre associations are seeking an injunction to stop the board from implementing its new OneCard system, according to a petition filed Tuesday in B.C. Supreme Court.

The OneCard plan launched on July 8, allowing Vancouverites to swim, skate or work out at any city-owned facility. The 20 volunteer-run community centre association boards will have until September to decide if the same card will work at their community centres.

The six associations contend that community centres should remain grassroots organizations, and continue to be volunteer run with representatives elected by community members, according to the court documents.

They also say the relationship between the six associations and the park board is a unique and special model that has achieved success over many decades, and that the park board’s decision will severely limit the role of the associations and leave them with no voice in their communities.

They claim the conduct of the park board has caused and will cause loss and harm that threatens the future success and existence of community centres.

Jesse Johl, president of the Riley Park Hillcrest Community Association, says they believe the OneCard will silence the community, because it is being used as a way to centralize power and programming.

“In a city where there is lack of consultation and meaningful communication...why does the park board want to shut down another avenue for the community to speak?”

Johl said the injunction is part of a bigger lawsuit to be filed against the park board at a later date, in which the associations will argue the park board has violated a legal agreement to jointly operate the centres. He said the board and centres worked in partnership for decades, until the park board decided the system needed to be overhauled.

The OneCard deal was reached amid ongoing negotiations between the park board and these associations over a controversial new joint operating agreement.

The park board’s proposal to pool the $1.3 million in annual surpluses collected by the centres sparked outrage during heated public hearings earlier this year.

Two associations –- Roundhouse and Strathcona –- have remained impartial to the negotiations while the six dissident associations stopped negotiating. Johl did not know whether talks would resume with the park board.

The park board argues the goal of the plan is to make the centres more equitable.

ticrawford@vancouversun.com

With files from Mike Hager