MINDEMOYA—With a need for a new arena and community hall facility in the community, and costs of previous studies providing alternatives that would prove to be too pricey, Central Manitoulin recently accepted a bid for another study to take place that it hopes will be more feasible.
“We need another facility at some point as our arenas are at least 70 years old and we have a community hall that is not up to provincial specifications (for accessibility),” said Richard Stephens, mayor of the municipality of Central Manitoulin. “And for a community with 2,300 people, we can’t afford a new building without federal and provincial funding. So, we put close to $150,000 towards looking at finding other alternatives,” he said in explaining why council recently approved a bid to have a study done of its arenas and recreation infrastructure.
At a recent meeting council passed a motion that 3rd Line Consulting and Perkins and Will in response to RFP 07-2024 be awarded a study contract in the amount of $146,190 plus HST.
Later in the meeting, the council passed a second motion to have the recreation infrastructure committee dissolved, having fulfilled its function now that a consultant has been hired to guide the next phase of the project.
“Well, as you are aware, we established a local committee to look at our facility arenas and halls. And we had a consultant three or four years ago indicating it would cost $15 million for a new facility, which was too high, and council turned it down,” said Mayor Stephens. “Then the board (recreation infrastructure committee) felt it could do a better job of looking at where we could put the facility, and what it would include. This committee did this, and their proposal was half the price of the consultants’ option, at about $7-8 million. But as I mentioned for a community with 2,300 people, we can’t afford something like this without federal and provincial funding.”
“We left things sit for a while, but knew all along with the age of our current facilities we would have to look at all of this again,” said Mayor Stephens. “So, we put close to $150,000 toward a study to find another alternative.”
Mayor Stephens explained, “We would like to see one community facility, arena and one main hall. But in the four communities that have a community hall the residents will say they still need them. This is something more sentimental than viable. We need a better solution so instead we agreed as council to spend $150,000 to have a study overview done that will be affordable and doable.”
“The logical place to have this is Mindemoya because there is water and sewer available,” said Mayor Stephens. “It would be nice to have a big facility in Providence Bay, but it would cost a huge amount to put water and sewer into the community. This is something that may be a good move eventually because Providence Bay is a prime area for growth as it is easier to put in water and sewer in sand rather than rock.”
The municipal tender sought consulting services, recreation infrastructure planning, arena feasibility and design and noted in part, “the municipality is requesting proposals from qualified firms to provide professional consulting services to assist the municipality in reviewing and planning for community and recreation infrastructure, with a particular focus on the two municipal arenas and their future. The successful proponent will develop an understanding of the local context and consider the arenas in the contest of the community, as well as within the context of the municipality’s full portfolio of infrastructure. In a municipality the size of Central Manitoulin, with a small staff complement and a limited pool of user groups, all facilities impact each other. The scope of this project will focus on building infrastructure, although lateral impacts to outdoor/park infrastructure that result from any recommendations in the masterplan phase should also be considered. All building infrastructure, parks, ball fields and open spaces are managed, operated, and maintained by a team of five full-time staff.”
“Like many other municipalities across Ontario, Central Manitoulin has been grappling for several years with strategic questions related to community facilities and recreation infrastructure, particularly the arenas,” the tender continued. “Staff and council have been considering core questions such as where to invest limited funds in infrastructure to derive the best value for residents, what service levels should and can be sustainably provided, what sustainable operating and fee models are there and which one is best suited to our community members and user groups, what the needs and wants of community members truly are, and how to effectively position the municipality to be prepared to access funding to move in the selected direction (particularly for arenas) i.e. achieve a preliminary design phase for the selected option.”
“The successful proponent will be able to review and build on the work that has already been completed and will facilitate the municipality to take significant next steps in determining a long-term strategy for community/recreation infrastructure as a whole,” the tender continues. “In particular, the successful proponent will ensure that the municipality has a solid plan for both community building infrastructure, and the two arenas, by the end of the process. This plan will have fully considered options for facilities such as whether to repair or renovate existing facilities (particularly the arenas) to decommission, to position the municipality to build a new arena facility, to target net-zero or do deep energy retrofits on any facilities or other options suggested by the successful proponent. The municipality expects to see proposals that demonstrate how the proponent conceptualizes the scope of the project, as well as a clear methodology for how the proponent will deliver the scope and step the municipality through both the strategic consideration phases as well as the initial design phases of the selected arena option.”
