Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Lots of Interest in Rec Centre

There is audio for this story. click to open MP3 version  or click the play button to listen now.

Owen Sound
by Jonathon Jackson    

Owen Sound and area residents were brought up to speed about the proposed new regional recreation centre which will be built at Victoria Park.

About 150 people attended a public meeting on Monday at the Bayshore and most seemed to like what they heard about the 38 million dollar project.

However not everyone was in favour.

One disgruntled resident said a plebiscite should be held on the issue, to which city councillor Jim McManaman replied there would be one on October 25 of this year, referring to the scheduled municipal election.

McManaman's words were met with applause, showing the general mood of the crowd.

Plans revealed last night showed residents where the two pools would go along with the two ice pads and other elements of the facility.

Its hoped the shovel will be in the ground by the end of this month.

The first step will be to remove about three thousand dump trucks full of earth, to be replaced by engineered soil more suitable to support the weight of the 125 thousand square foot building.

That process will cost an estimated million dollars -- a figure that has already been factored into the project cost.

But the possibility exists that the federal and provincial governments, which earlier agreed to pay two-thirds of a lower figure to build the rec centre, may be willing to give more money in light of the unforeseen soil problems at Victoria Park.

McManaman, who is also the chair of the rec committee talked about the future of the existing Owen Sound Coliseum.

He says that although the plan right now is to demolish the Coliseum, there is interest in preserving the building.

The rec centre must be substantially complete by March 2011 in order to qualify for government funding.