Town Administration will be scheduling user group and key stakeholder meetings to ensure the facility design considers all groups needs.
All of the timeline are high level right now, but we are aiming for fall/winter 2022 for construction to be complete on the expansion.
The Town will be very conscious of its operational expenses vs potential revenue realized. The operational model was based on having both ice surfaces available from Sept. to March and operating one ice surface during the summer. This allows ice users to continue with programming and provides additional revenue opportunities and new user groups options for indoor dry land events and activities.
The operational analysis conducted used current fees/structures for Town programmed activities.
It is the intention of the Town to make every attempt to maintain as much functionality of the arena and pool facilities during the construction as possible.
The initial draft design currently includes a hot tub however, the exact design and facility features will not be known until the level 1 cost analysis is completed.
In 2018, the proposed project considered a brand new build across Highway 60, which included servicing and fully developing raw land which added greater expenses to the project. It was also intended to be fully funded by the Town with borrowing.
The new project includes the utilization of existing infrastructure that the Town has heavily invested in over the past 5 years and incorporates current facilities into the construction of the expansion, providing sizable cost reductions. In August of 2020 the Town was the recipient of $13.5M in funding to expand the current Dale Fisher Arena into a multi-use recreation facility, allowing the Town to stay within our means.
The preliminary design was drafted to determine the parking scope, which demonstrates adequate parking for both the facility expansion and additionally allows for greater parking space for events that take place at the Community Centre. Draft parking design can be found here.
Based on the Operational Analysis conducted by RC Strategies, and using a realistic financial model, the impact to the average property owner would not likely exceed $5.00 annually.
With an increase in building footprint, there will be additional staff requirements, and related operational costs with twining an arena and having a year round aquatic centre. All of these components have been addressed in the Operational Analysis.
When conducting an Operational Analysis the Town considered three scenarios; a best case, a the worst case and a realistic model. Considerations includes membership fees, public use of the facilities, rentals/leases and ice user fees. These four categories explored high usage for programs, ice use and lease acquisition for the best case, and 50% of that for the worse case. You can find further details on cost projections here.