New arena study to be more detailed, comprehensive

Patrick noted the city will still be able to use the original study as part of the work ahead for the new more detailed, in-depth study.

“It’s complementary to what we’re doing,” he said. “The old study was conceptual. It showed a building and what might be in it. That’s part of what we’re doing here. We need the conceptual drawing as well, and what this [structure] will look like. But we have a lot of other things we want to look at too.”

Patrick pointed out that when applying for funding, the city’s application would be competing with other communities’ proposals. Some other communities also wanted to build new rinks but didn’t receive any funding in the last batch of government grants given out.

The provincial and federal governments still have to announce when they will be accepting applications for the next grants, whenever they are available.

“Hopefully, they come up with a new agreement, and there are some funds made available,” Patrick said. “We have to compete with other communities that have similar projects, so we have to have a detailed, shovel-ready plan, which we don’t have right now.”

The newer study will look at possible sites for the new arena and the costs of those sites.

“We need to know, for example, if you are building a 2,000 seat arena versus a 3,000 seat arena, what both the operational costs and the capital costs are going to be, [and] what’s the benefit it will bring to the community,” Patrick said. “If we get a bigger arena, do we get more people coming in, and how much more revenue might that generate. We have to understand that, which we wouldn’t right now.”

The new study will also look at what features will go into the facility. The old study also looked at this, so the city will confirm if anything has changed since then.

The city will also need to meet with people in the region to see how the project could be funded regionally, both for operations and the capital to help build it.

“If it’s a building that’s going to cost more than the Access [Communications] Centre, for example, how do we [fund] that?” Patrick said. “This study will look at those sorts of things. Ultimately, when you put it all together, that’s what is our shovel-ready project. We will know all those answers.”

Some of the issues with the current arena, which dates back to the early 1960s, are simply aging components, such as problems with the roof, walls, and aging mechanical features needing to be replaced.

“It is getting very old, and we’re starting to have to replace a lot of structure,” Patrick said. “Over the years it’s going to cost us more and more.”

He noted that right now, the city has a plan to try to maintain the arena to keep the cost as low as possible for the next five years while looking to see how plans for a new arena could advance.

“If, for example, this doesn’t happen, then you’re going to have to put money into the old arena,” Patrick said. “That’s for council to decide. But we’ve got to be ready when the money [grants] comes out. When the money is there, you have to apply if you’re going to build a new arena. We have to be ready to do that.”

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angela.brown@pattisonmedia.com

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by Angela Brown

New arena study to be more detailed, comprehensive

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