Now that Penticton city council has endorsed the Arena Task Force recommendation for a new facility, the next step is figuring out how to pay for it.
That recommendation was for Option 3, a twin-surface, multi-use arena on the west side of the South Okanagan Events Centre, along with the eventual closure of McLaren Arena and conversion of Memorial Arena to a permanent dry floor facility.
Part of the projected $33.9 million cost for the design will hopefully come from Federal Gas Tax Strategic Priorities fund. The City of Penticton expects to hear in the fall if their application was successful, but the funding strategy is yet to be worked out.
“We don’t have available funding right now for any of the options that were identified by the task force,” said Bregje Kozak, City of Penticton facilities manager. “The grant is part of the funding strategy. There will be many other items in the strategy, including possibly other grants.”
Kozak explained that in order to fully develop the proposed plan, work needs to be done on a funding strategy along with additional analysis of operating and capital costs.
The current estimates, she said, are preliminary; appropriate to compare projects, but not for a detailed budget.
“We don’t have enough information yet to establish a project budget. These are estimates to compare against one another, not to establish a project budget,” said Kozak.
Mayor Andrew Jakubeit said the endorsement didn’t represent a final decision on how to proceed. The discussion, he continued, came out of the city’s infrastructure deficit, and the cost of maintaining the ageing Memorial and McLaren arenas.
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“It is not about adding new sports facilities, it is dealing with an aged building,” said Jakubeit, adding how the city proceeds depends on finding enough funding.
“Later this fall, this is where the rubber meets the road. If the grant comes back a partial number or funding strategies aren’t there, it vastly dictates how we proceed or perhaps don’t proceed,” said Jakubeit, who is hoping community groups and others come forward to help with the funding.
“I think what is missing is that community champion to go rally the hockey community for starters, some of the other service clubs and the philanthropic people around the community to step up,” said Jakubeit. “The reason the SOEC got community approval is because there were so many other funding options that came to the table, the impact to the taxpayer was low and it was good value for us to move forward. I think that is the missing piece.”
Kozak said more information is needed on the final impact to taxpayers before a final decision is made.
“We have heard from a lot of residents that they fear no money will be left for other community needs like performing arts, sports groups,” she said, adding that other issues like parking and the activity level at the SOEC campus also need to be addressed.
There were a number of reasons for recommending the twin-sheet option, according to Kozak, with greater opportunities for sports tourism events along with benefits to the community.
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“This option serves a wide range of user groups. It provides facilities that attract and keep your families. We are able to preserve the history of Memorial Arena,” said Kozak. “However, this facility does add to the SOEC, which would increase activity and parking pressures.
“We heard a lot about that when we addressed the community. They wanted to make sure we addressed parking and circulation through the site.”
The twin-sheet option also offered the greatest longevity and opportunity for revenue generation, including the possibility of B.C. Hockey relocating here.
“B.C. Hockey sent us a letter that we included in our initial grant application, expressing their interest in relocating their offices from Victoria to Penticton. A lot of things need to happen before that takes place, but it is something we can consider as the next phase of work.”
There are no plans for what would happen to McLaren Arena yet, other than decommissioning it as an arena when the new facility is ready.
“What happens after that, we need to do a lot more exploration on what some of the opportunities and desires in the community are,” said Kozak. “Structurally, the building is very solid. The areas of the building that are lacking are the size of the ice, the spectator seating, the dressing rooms. It is more the functionality of the building that is lacking but the actual structure is in good shape.”
None of this, she said, is going to happen overnight. If the grant application is successful, the city has until 2023 to make use of it.
“This is the start of a process and it is going to take a long time to accomplish. We are fortunate to have started this process early. We have seen some communities where they waited too long and their arenas either a system failed or a roof failed or had to be shut down for safety reasons,” said Kozak. “Our goal is to avoid that type of situation.”