City council members were updated Monday on the early progress towards replacing the aging North Battleford Civic Centre.
City Manager Jim Puffalt provided the update to council on the early meetings that had taken place. A committee was established this year that included representation from a number of users groups with the purpose of coming up with ideas on what the new arena should look like.
A couple of meetings have been held, said Puffalt, with the first one focusing on what the new arena should have. The second meeting resulted in some amendments and elimination of unnecessary items, and a list of items of features for the facility was drawn up.
“It was a very reasonable proposal brought to council this evening,” Puffalt told reporters after Monday’s meeting.
The list of items presented included an NHL-size rink, corporate box area, SJHL-standard dressing rooms, wider hallways, access for those with disabilities, offices, technical items including stadium Wi-Fi and Internet, a Jumbotron and numerous other items.
The arena would be used for national and international events as well as concerts and other floor events.
Puffalt noted it was important for the facility to be “multi-use,” where it “could be used for a hockey game, could be used for a concert the next night, could be used for a demolition derby the night after.”
To address the ice rink shortage in the city, two ice surfaces are being contemplated, one with seating for 3,000 people (expandable to 5,000), while the other would have seating for 600.
Puffalt noted there are “synergies in constructing two facilities together,” including sharing one ice plant and a Zamboni. He credited the committee with thinking of operating costs in their deliberations.
The mandate of this initial committee is essentially complete. The city manager suggested next steps should include referring the issue to the 2016 budget deliberations.
“We need to move forward in some degree,” said Puffalt. He suggested some money is needed to hire a consultant to look at suggested features, and come back with a price range and more recommendations.
Other next steps discussed included sharing with the public some of what the committee had come up with. Puffalt suggested some sort of event could be held to publicize the findings and they could also be featured on the City’s website.
Also talked about was the idea of taking a look at facilities in other communities to see what has been built.
