New Arena for IceDogs on Horizon

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Councillors sizing up pool grant; How much provincial funding to ask for to be determined next week

Posted By PETER DOWNS, St. Catharines Standard

Posted 6 hours ago

St. Catharines councillors want the province to help pay the tab for a new indoor pool.

They just haven't figured out how much to ask for.

And settling on the magnitude of their request is a gamble with a $300-million grant program recently unveiled by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Renewal, chief administrative officer Colin Briggs explained.

The one-time funding program allows municipalities to apply for up to 100 per cent of the cost of infrastructure projects.

Successful applicants will receive exactly as much as they request or will be flat-out rejected, Briggs said.

"I guess the challenge is if it's all or nothing and you go for it all, you may get nothing," he told councillors.

The city estimates it will cost anywhere from $10 million to $18 million to build a new aquatics centre to replace the aging West Park pool, depending on whether the building also accommodates other activities.

Councillors will settle on a strategy for how much grant money to request at their meeting next Monday night - four days before the grant deadline.

Council committed last month to replacing 41-year-old West Park pool - the only municipally owned pool.

The proposed replacement was selected by councillors from an overall wish list of more than $150 million in possible capital projects.

Councillors were asked to go through the list and pick one to put forward for the grant program.

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Ten of the 13 councillors at the table chose the pool proposal.

In addition to the grant candidate, councillors were asked to pick two "major" projects - those costing more than $2 million - they think should be priorities for the city, as well as three "minor" projects less than $2 million.

In the major project category, councillors said priorities are the pool, a new parking garage to replace the city's crumbling Carlisle Street facility and a partnership with Brock University on construction of a performing arts centre downtown.

Councillors chose four projects in the minor category - more splash pads, more soccer fields, a multi-use sports field and an outdoor skating rink.

At the recommendation of St. Patrick's Coun. Mark Elliott, councillors voted to scratch two-way traffic conversion downtown from the list of prospective projects since the previous council already committed to it and a portion of the funding has been set aside in the city's draft budget for the year ahead.

Merritton Coun. Jeff Burch maintained the city would be better off building multi-use recreational facilities - such as an indoor pool combined with a larger spectator arena - than spending dollars on single-use buildings.

"It's a new way of doing things," he said. "It's more efficient and it's better usage for the population."



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Perhaps this will start the process for a new arena for the IceDogs

[chooch]

Knowing the history of council decisions I wouldn't get too excited about it, but let's keep our fingers crossed. It will be a challenge for Burch to convince the other members of council about his ideas.

[slamr]

Sounds more like a general comment than an actual proposal. Certainly nothing to get hopeful about. I know I'm not. Past experience with regards to council decisions has taught me that.

[groulxisright]

The fact that this is an all or nothing funding plan I doubt very much it will lead to a 5,000 seat arena.

Burch is going at it the right way however because a multi-facility has a slim chance, but ultimately an arena prodominately built for a OHL club will probably not be funded %100 by the government.

I do believe that several levels of government will kick in funding for a 5,000 seat arena somewhere in Niagara if the project is headed and at least 50% funded by private industry. A company like a Molson's or Labatt's or maybe in another area such as Bell or Rogers, I feel, will have to spearhead the project if it is ever going to happen.

[Kevin]

I was informed that a new arena would be talked about at Mondays council meeting so I watched it. The discussion was really meant for council to decide what the top priorities were for capital projects and to decide what project would be submitted for the provinces new funding program (A one time program where cities can submit a construction ready project by the end of February for funding).

Colin Briggs (city CAO) said that an arena was included on the list because of the IceDogs and the recent discussion that some councillors have had. However, since they had not done any planning for a new rink, it was not construction ready and could not be submitted for funding. Briggs said that it was his hope that he would not have to think about a new arena until after the 5 year lease had expired but that it was something councillors had to start thinking about for the future.

One Councillor (Gill) asked about the opportunity to partner with the private sector on a new rink and Briggs said that would be looked at in the future. Councillor Burch said that he thought the new proposed indoor pool and the arena should be built together as a multi use centre. As such, he felt the parking garage project should be submitted for funding, then the city could start the process of planning for a proper pool/arena multi use centre.

Obviously a new rink is not coming anytime soon but I also think that waiting 5 years to begin discussions on a new rink is not really realistic either. I would think that the IceDogs would want to move into a new rink shortly after their lease expires, which means they need to begin discussions in year 3 at the latest.

I believe the reason that council always rejects funding for a new arena is because everyone expects it will get defeated. Sports fans figure it probably won't get approved, so they never really get excited about the prospect of a new arena. Supporters of a new arena bascially say we want a new arena but don't expect council to approve it. Rejecting the proposal is a very safe decision for the councillors. Those who didn't want tax money being spent on a new arena are happy and those who wanted the arena are also OK with the decision as it was expected. The councillors don't ruffle anyones feathers and they are re-elected. Now if St. Catharines sports fans expected a new arena, and voiced their support, it would be difficult for councillors to reject it.

I spoke with a councillor before the 4 pad was built and asked him why they don't put in 5000 seats in the main pad. He told me if they did, people would get upset because it would cost more money. He also said that on the other hand if we don't put in the 5000 seats, no one will miss it as no one expects us to put in the additional seats and no one will get angry.

When the time comes, supporters need to contact their councillors and say we need a new arena and expect that it will be approved. Until this happens, council will continue to reject arena proposals because that is what everyone is expecting them to do. Councillors don't like to disappoint.

[sportscrazy]

I think it is good that they are atleast thinking about it right now. But for a new arena to happen, we need to really shove the new arena idea down the aldermens throat. Look at the 4-plex. It was built because the hockey parents and coaches wrote letters to the paper, e-mailed and phoned councillors, protested outside city hall before the vote. Leagues were telling parents what to do and they were doing it. They basically shoved the idea down the councillors throat so they had no choice but to say OK. Will sports fans it this region wake up and take action. Hopefully the IceDogs have woke a lot of people up. I firmly believe that if we show our support the aldermen will also support it.

[dogman]

The Icedogs are selling out regularly now so I think people will be expecting a new arena. The excuse was always this area can't support hockey so there is no need for a new arena. Now we have the support so there is no excuse.

[stunned]

If you read Herod's column in the St. Catharines Standard today you can get a better understanding on how things work. It is an interesting read as this guy probably has been around council too long and has started to think like them. He rationalizes the council's building of the existing four pad and qualifies his argument by suggesting that people who are wondering why the new four pad did not have a 5,000 seat arena are second guessers. In fact, the line of people who wondered out loud in coffee shops etc... overwhelmingly believed that building a new facility without major seating in one rink was a mistake. The power brokers who put this together did this to accommodate what Herod calls a recreational-needs basis as the lack of ice pads in St. Catharines was the motivating factor in the approval of the proposal.
So in other words, even though it made sense to build a 5,000 seat facility, the only way you were going to get anything is to build what you currently see. How can we do this as cheaply as possible and pacify as many as possible and keep the overall price as low as possible.
While other communities such as Waterloo and London are thriving and building an infrastructure that people are flocking to, St. Catharines is OK with doing whatever to get by.
When you have a supposed watchdog of the process, (Herod)claiming that there is nothing wrong with this you get what you get. When you start to understand the convoluted logic that runs St. Catharines, then you can see why other major cities such as Waterloo, London etc... have left the Garden City in the dust.

[ltb]

I agree with you 100% stunned, but what makes these other cities flourish at least in the minds of you and I, is not council members but those citizens who live in these cities and tell there appointed members of council that we will not play dead anymore, we are proud, we love our region/community and we want what is best for us from this day forward. We owe it to ourselves to stop selling this Region short and stand up and say this is a great place to live and grow up. We are not the only area that has lost manufacturing jobs in this Country, but it's up to us to carve out our own little niche that makes this place unique. And it can start with telling council members we love this team and we will NOT let it go again so you might as well start planning for a new arena before construction and supply costs make it even more expensive to build...I hope this makes sense?

[excanucksfan]

ltb said:

I agree with you 100% stunned, but what makes these other cities flourish at least in the minds of you and I, is not council members but those citizens who live in these cities and tell there appointed members of council that we will not play dead anymore, we are proud, we love our region/community and we want what is best for us from this day forward. We owe it to ourselves to stop selling this Region short and stand up and say this is a great place to live and grow up. We are not the only area that has lost manufacturing jobs in this Country, but it's up to us to carve out our own little niche that makes this place unique. And it can start with telling council members we love this team and we will NOT let it go again so you might as well start planning for a new arena before construction and supply costs make it even more expensive to build...I hope this makes sense?

This makes perfect sense to me. Its time for us hockey fans to make our voices heard.