Chatham-Kent staff is moving forward with the development of a plan for a twin pad arena in Chatham.
Council approved the following recommendations at Monday’s council meeting:
– Administration be directed to develop plans to build a twin pad arena in the community of Chatham to replace Memorial Arena and William K. Erickson Arena.
– Administration complete a site analysis and provide the next term of Council with a site recommendation.
– Concurrent with the site analysis, administration develop specifications for the twin pad arena to be presented to the next term of Council.
– Administration present a financing plan to the next term of Council, after exploration of funding options with senior levels of government, to address the costs associated with land procurement, site remediation, bidding, design, and construction of the arena, project approval is dependent on funding from senior levels of government.
Don Shropshire, CAO in Chatham-Kent, provided a presentation to council on Monday about the issue.
“Administration is seeking direction from Council if they support a 4,200 seat event centre or a 2,200 seat community facility,” says in his report.
“Council should be aware that other municipalities pursuing similar facilities have retained the professional services of a consultant to lead or assist with the project recommendations discussed in this report.”
On Monday, council did not give a specific direction to staff on the type of facility.
Shropshire says the capital cost estimate for the event centre, including industry standard amenities, is $52 to $56-million, while the the estimate for the community facility is $25 to $29-million.
“Neither estimate includes site acquisition, site remediation, servicing costs, or revenues such as grants and donations,” the CAO says in his report.
In terms of a site selection, Shropshire says the arena, regardless of size, will require approximately 9 to 10 acres for the building and public parking.
Some Municipal property available would be the Memorial Arena site or the area behind the HFS Building.
Some non-municipal site sites, include: Bloomfield / Hitchcock (the preferred non-municipal site), Charing Cross Road and English Line, Charing Cross Road and Indian Creek Road East, Indian Creek Road West, northeast of Howard Road, several parcels in the Howard Road, Park Avenue West, Indian Creek Road West area and the Navistar Property.
Shropshire says in his report that research indicates the annual net operations cost of event centres ranges from $400,000 to $1-million.
