After getting some clarification on funding, the municipality will be making strides towards building a 2,200 seat arena instead of a previously proposed 4,000 seat facility.
On Monday night, council voted in favour of going ahead with applying for upper level of government funding to go towards a new twin-pad entertainment centre and multisport complex with a seating capacity of 2,200. If approved, the money will come from the provincial and federal government's Community, Culture, and Recreation Funding stream.
The application would be based on a maximum project cost of $60 million. Potential future investments in architectural design, land acquisition, outdoor sports fields, services, and traffic mitigation costs are not included in the $60 million.
Council had previously approved going forward with a 4,000 seat multiuse complex. However, after further talks with the province, chief financial officer Mike Turner said it was unlikely the municipality would receive enough funding for a larger facility.
The Community, Culture, and Recreation Funding stream has a cap of $50 million in project costs, with the government funding a maximum of 73.33 per cent of those costs. One of the criteria of the previously approved application for a 4,000 seat complex was that construction would only move forward if $46.6 million in government funding was secured. However, because of limits on how much provincial and federal governments will fund, the decision was made to apply for a 2,200 seat arena instead and lower the government request amount to $36.65 million to fit with funding criteria.
The total cost of the larger arena would have been around $86 million.
According to Turner, in recent talks with the province, it was implied that it was unlikely the municipality would receive any more than $36.65 million.
"You can propose a larger project than that if you like, but the funding is capped on 73 and a third percent of $50 million," he said. "So we are proposing to bring forward this application with the 2,200 [seat], the 200 [seat] and the multisport complex."
The application that Chatham-Kent sends in will be based on a maximum project cost of $60-million, with Turner noting that although the funding's maximum project cap is $50-million, exceptions can be made for new build projects.
The municipality has to have its application in by November 12. Turner estimates that it will take around five to seven months for Chatham-Kent to learn if it has been approved for the funding. Should it get approved and the plans move forward, the municipality will still commit a maximum of $18.5 million to the project, if feasible, in the budget. The remaining costs of the project are expected to come from anticipated donations. Turner said there is no confirmation on whether it's possible that the municipality can receive less funding than it applied for.
"Our intention with this application was to take the council direction of the $18.5 million. Hopefully, we receive the funding from the federal and provincial governments of the $36.65 [million]. The other $5-million would bring us to about $60-million. That's why this application fits this process. Council will ultimately have the final decision on what we are going to do once we have all the funding confirmed," Turner said.
The decision to apply for a smaller arena caused Councillor Michael Bondy to pull a motion he had on the table that was requesting the municipality apply for multiple arena sizes to allow for more options.
According to Turner, it wasn't impossible to apply for multiple funding. However, he said the province indicated that it would be a better choice not to because of how much competition there was across the country for the funding.
Any projects that do get approved must be built by March 2027. Turner said the intention is to have Chatham-Kent's facility built well before this time. When questioned about when the final decision will be made about building the arena, Turner said there wouldn't be a long period of time between getting government funding approval and starting the official plans on the arena.
"Certainly if we get the green light in six months that we're getting the funding, we'll bring something back shortly to council to say 'here's the total funding envelope, this is the recommendation.' If council approves that, we'll move forward right away with more of the detailed architectural drawings and get into the tendering process," explained Turner.
The municipality has awarded a $60,885 contract for preliminary drawings that will be included in the application. No land has been secured however ongoing discussions are in process.
The final size and amenities will all be contingent upon the final budget dollars and additional funding available.