Town borrows $15 million for rec centre

By Cindy Ballance
senior reporter

Okotoks council will borrow up to $15 million to pay for expansion at the Okotoks Recreation Centre and construct a 350-seat arena next to the Foothills Centennial Centre.
Council approved a borrowing bylaw and the scope of the projects at its regular meeting last Monday, but thanks to prudent planning, local taxpayers will not likely see much of change on their tax bill.
About $6.5 million will be borrowed to upgrade the existing Okotoks Recreation Centre and about $7 million for the new arena now being called Centennial Place Arena. The remaining $1.5 million will be used for professional fees.
The municipality has already set aside funding to help pay for the borrowing. Presently, local taxpayers pay into a recreational centre recapitalization reserve which is essentially a savings account for the upgrades.
Municipal treasurer Allen Jenkins said the debt servicing on $15 million is just short of $1.5 million per year. The town has set aside a recreation centre recapitalization reserve which brings in about $680,000 per year from municipal taxes. For every tax dollar, 5.6 cents goes to the recreation facility reserve fund. For example, if a resident pays $2,000 in taxes, $112 will go into the reserve.
It is anticipated that the reserve will be increased to about $1 million next year.
The purpose of the recapitalization reserve is to largely pay for the debt financing, said Jenkins.
“The plan is, by the time we get to 2008, we will have sufficient funding in place through the recreation centre reserve and growth to more than cover the $1.5 million debt servicing from that point forward,” he explained. “We will have an initial bump in 2005/2006, then it is relatively smooth sailing.”
As for the scope of the upgrades, Bill Evans, project manager with Browning Projects, said his firm has worked within the budget allotted and came up with the best solution to meet the recreational needs in the community.
The base project for expansion of the Okotoks Recreation Centre includes new six-lane competitive pool and administration area, site development, lobby renovations, multi-purpose room, a solar wall system, zamboni facility addition, and mechanical upgrades at the Murray Arena.
Evans also included a wish list of potential ‘add-ons’ that will require additional funding. The proposed add-ons or extras include a gymnasium, fitness centre, dressing room additions and a players’ bench at the Piper Arena, a new hot tub, concession development and washroom renovations.
There was some concern by Okotoks council that the user groups in consultations have deemed a number of the so-called ‘add-ons’ imperative in the initial design.
“The change rooms at the Piper Arena was one of the essential elements when we went down this road,” said Councillor Ed Sands.
“There have been some tough decisions overall,” commented Evans, explaining that the addition of the change rooms in the Piper would have cost upwards of $1 million due to unsuitable soil conditions, among other factors.
“While we recognize (the change rooms) are highly desirable, they aren’t providing additional revenue to the building. We need some feedback to see if this suggestion is reasonable,” he said.
Following consultations with a variety of user groups including the organizing team for Junior A hockey and other sports interest groups a list of items were developed that would best suit the recreational needs of the community. In addition to the change rooms at the Piper Arena, a fitness or leisure area was also deemed an important inclusion in the design, but due to budget restrictions was ejected from the design.
“We feel we could increase active utilization of the facility, increase the cash flow and make it a more successful facility overall,” said Evans, of the potential for a fitness area. “A fitness arena would have the highest potential for revenue back into the facility,” he said.
But the project manager recognized that having everything they wanted was not feasible.
“If we put in what we wanted we would be significantly over budget,” said Evans. “We recognize that there is a budget set for borrowing. The theme for daily decision making is one of value and living within our means.”
As funds become available, Evans said that the potentials for add-ons such as a fitness arena, gym and changes rooms in the Piper Arena would become a reality.
The town has currently applied for a Centennial Legacies grant with the province that may see an injection of about $2 million. That money could be used for add-ons or to pay down the debt.
“When funding become available we will pick from the menu what we feel is affordable and will meet the program needs overall,” said Evans.
The Big Rock Athletic Council (BRAC) will also launch a fund-raising campaign to fund potential upgrades to the design. Bruce Goodwin, president of the Minor Hockey Association and part of BRAC, said that while items such as the change rooms at the Piper was a disappointment, the facility will still be a benefit to the community.
“It’s disappointing but we can’t do it all,” said Goodwin. “But that is a fact of life with the budget we’ve got. Even without fund raising, the arena we get will be pretty close to what we want,” he said.
Through successful fund-raising by BRAC and its minor sports members, it is expected that the add-ons will be included in the designs for construction this November.
“We are hoping that once we hit the pavement the money will come in,” he said.
Within the $15 global budget is also the construction of a 350-seat arena near the Foothills Centennial Centre. The design also makes provisions for the facility to expand internally to seat 1,500 people.
“We are putting a substantial amount of investment into the building shell to accommodate future expansion,” said Sheldon Quinn, project architect.
Should additional funding be secured there is a possibly the expansion to 1,500 seats could be a reality sooner and later, said Evan.
“There is a potential to open on day one with the expanded design should fund-raising be successful,” he said.
While council was supportive of the overall design, there was some concern that the arena was being built around the needs of the new Junior A hockey organization and the needs of other, equally important, users were not being taken into consideration.
One of the organizers of Junior A hockey Wayne Lauinger explained that while Junior A hockey will be the primary tenant of the new arena, the facility will benefit all user groups.
“It is overstated to say all of this is for Junior A. We are committed wherever we can to assist in any fund-raising with the BRAC association,” he told council Monday.
“We will do whatever we can to address the bumps along the way,” Lauinger continued. “The arena mirrors in many respects a Maxbell Arena. It addresses the needs of this community, not just hockey.”
Evans said he was confident that expansion at the existing rec centre and construction of the new arena would form an essential hub for all recreational activities in and around Okotoks.
“We have to design this facility in a sensitive manner for all users groups, but design it within the budget constraints. There has to be a balance,” he said.
Detail designs are expected to be completed by the end of the summer with application being made for development permits in August. It is anticipated the project will go out to tender in November.

Sidebar
Budget allocation (Global budget $15 million)
$ 6.5 million existing Okotoks Recreation Centre expansion
$ 7 million construction of new arena at Foothills Centennial Centre
$1.5 million professional fees (engineering, architectural and project management)

Okotoks Recreation Centre expansion
• New pool basin and change rooms with minor renovations to existing pool.
• Pool bleacher seating 150 persons.
• Multi-purpose room.
• Centrally located hot tub.
• Administrative offices, meeting room and reception desk.
• Renovations to public concourse, public washrooms and food concession.
• Ice cleaning machine storage and maintenance facility addition.

Centennial Place Arena (350-seat)
• Community ice arena with seating for 350 persons
• Provision for internal expansion to 1,500 seats. This phase would require expansion to mechanical services, washrooms, offices, training room, dressing room and additional parking.