Engineers have been looking at the Arctic Ice Centre and working out plans for extending its life. The latest is a $7.8 million proposal, that town staff have since whittled down to $6.5 million. Town council heard about it on Sept. 18.
The work includes mechanical and electrical upgrades, building code upgrades, plumbing upgrades and renovations aimed at making the building more user-friendly. The latter item includes a new passageway between the two arenas that would improve traffic flow.
Councillors seemed to like what they saw of the plans.
“I like the design,” said councillor Rob Irwin. “It would buy us 20 years. It wouldn’t be new, but it would be a nice building, inside and out.”
But where would the money come from? Community services director Karl Hill told council he has applied for hefty grants.
But as councillor George Snider pointed out, the town would still have to come up with over $2 million. Some of the ‘bells and whistles’ might have to be cut out, he warned.
“It’s going to be a tight budget,” he said. “Maybe we can do this item and that item and not the rest and life’s tough.”
Snider also said he thinks the design, which would clad the older of the two arenas in an entirely new shell, “does look pretty impressive.” He urged administration to come up with some three-dimensional drawings and post them for the public viewing.
Council voted to defer a decision on the project until the 2008 budget deliberations, which begin later this year.

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