The 25-year-old Art Holding Memorial Arena is a step closer to getting a new lease on life after Chase council supported a grant application to have a condition assessment done on the building.
At the Sept. 10 meeting, chief financial officer Debbie Lovin provided a report explaining that staff is already aware of several upgrades needed on the aging arena, and recommended applying for funding under the Asset Management Planning Program.
Administered through the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM), the program covers up to 50 per cent of project costs to a maximum of $25,000. As the full arena assessment is estimated at approximately $50,000, the remainder could come from the Canada Community Building Fund 鈥� Community Works Fund.
The total price point, however, had Coun. Colin Connett questioning the project.
"So $50,000 and that's just for somebody to poke around it and see what's wrong? It seems like a huge amount of money for somebody to just go around with a pen and some paper and say this needs to be done, this needs to be done," he said. "Or are they going to pound in a nail when they go by?"
Lovin explained, however, that it's a more involved process than that, and as it's a village owned asset, council needs to know where it stands.
"This would be to have somebody come in and take a look at all the deficiencies in the arena and give a good report so we know how to budget going forward," she said, adding they already know some areas of the building are failing. "So we need more details on what else is going to come forward because it's a large expense that the village has to cover in the future."
Coun. Fred Torbohm added that if council wants to apply for any other grant funding for the arena, they'll be required to have this assessment done.
Despite Connett still calling it "ridiculous," the recommendation to support the grant application carried unanimously.
The necessity of such assessments was recently highlighted by Salmon Arm council's difficult decision to demolish the 67-year-old SASCU Indoor Memorial Sports Complex after the necessary upgrades to bring it up to standard were deemed cost prohibitive.
