“What we heard today is the lifespan is in that four-year range.”
At Monday’s GPC meeting, Mayor Gerald Aalbers and Council got an update on the status of the present Civic Centre Arena and the plans for building a new facility. Aalbers stressed that city officials will continue to monitor the state of the present structure.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the City will ensure that the safety is paramount for users, participants at the Civic Centre and it will be monitored accordingly.”
Back in July, Council awarded the contract for the design of the new arena.
Aalbers said city officials will continue to look at options including grant funding programs, but they recognize the capital funding challenge.
“It’s 58-years old and hopefully it will see its 60th birthday and maybe a couple more after that, but it is really a challenging position that we are in. As we know, we are building other capital projects and they all take funding, so there will be a lot of energy put into (a), Where will that building go? (b) What will that building look like? and (c) Where is the money going to come from?”
The Arena Facility Development update was accepted as information and Administration will bring the site selection forward to a future council meeting for a determination.