Northern Bruce Peninsula is holding off a decision on how to move forward with the Lion’s Head Arena redevelopment project.
Council approved deferring the decision after three options were proposed on how to proceed with the project during a meeting on Sept. 9.
The options ranged from changing the scope of the project to improve accessibility, construct change rooms and improve energy efficiencies, costing $7 million. Council could also have chosen to build a brand new facility on lands it would need to acquire, which would cost the municipality $31 million. The third option includes renovating the arena while constructing a new library and community centre, this comes with a about $20 million price tag.
Deputy Mayor Rod Anderson says council should start looking at a new build.
“It’s going to be a few years before you got shovels in the ground, even if we had a lot sitting there today. I mean we are looking at four or five years down the road,” says Anderson.
During deliberations, council talked about the possibility of using the grant funding its received in 2020 to pursue option one, but at the same time, start looking at ways to fund a completely new facility.
Coun. Aman Sohrab says, “I guess in the short term, I would say we should go for option one and use the grant money and do the renovation. Then we should apply for the other funding streams and then start planning and saving.”
He and Coun. Laurie Golden suggested reaching out to the community to hear what they think about these options.
“I also wonder if it would be worth surveying people to ask them what renovations exactly they feel are the highest priority or what they would want most in a new build,” says Sohrab.
CAO Peggy Van Mierlo-West says they should have more details about land acquisition for the new facility at the next council meeting.
Mayor Milt McIver says, “I would be interested to hear that discussion just to see where we are at.”
This multi-million dollar project has been in the works for a while, which sought to update the arena with new dressing rooms, a multi-purpose room, and creating a new Bruce County Library Branch.
Council pressed the breaks on the revamp earlier this year after a recommendation was brought to the table to approve spending $17 million.