Strathroy-Caradoc Council has decided to forego the almost years long work of two sub-committees focused on a new Mount Brydges arena, to see how much it would cost to renovate the current one. Meetings for the Building and Fundraising committees formed by CDAC members and council last year were halted during the election period and the two committees have since been disbanded due to new membership being allocated. A new facility site has not been chosen yet and the municipality does not own land in Mt. Brydges which might provide an alternative location. So council approved the step to go away from the committees and a potential new facility for now and see what the old one can give us which probably should have been one of the steps last year but it wasn’t. Community Services Director Rob Lilbourne says that option was not discussed in the last term of council.
Council did choose option 4 which was to look at Tri-Township arena and create a renovation report. Lilbourne says this needs to be done right to get the right information back.
What was on the table last year was three location options which were a new arena built separate to the Caradoc Community Centre, to demolish that centre and rebuild as part of a multi-use project or a new arena on a different site.
Council made the call that the 2023 Budget include funds to retain a consultant to provide a detailed report on the feasibility and cost of renovating the Tri-Township arena which is estimated at around $50,000. Lilbourne recommended not starting this process until the arena ice is out in April, and the report could be ready in about 3-4 months to come back to council.
He says if the report comes back that Tri-Township is able to be renovated or built on to, he says the timeline would look like about 1.5-2 years for the site plan and design stage then an additional 2-3 years to get construction going and finished. The following are the 4 options Council was presented with during the meeting in which they selected Option 4.
Option 1 – The building committee be reformed as a subcommittee of CDAC including Council;
Option 2 – The building committee be comprised of members from the public and Council;
Option 3 – The building committee be comprised of Council Members with staff support;
Option 4 – The 2023 Budget include funds to retain a consultant to provide a detailed report on the feasibility and cost of renovating the Tri-Township Arena before striking further renewal committees.
written by: C. Soares