Clairmont Arena (Photo from the Clairmont Community Arena Facebook page)

By Liam Verster

Needs Assessment Complete

Work continues to determine future of Clairmont Arena

Sep 29, 2020 | 12:58 PM

The County of Grande Prairie has tasked administration with working to determine how to move forward with the Clairmont Arena and community hall.

The arena was closed due to safety concerns in December, 2019, and in March a Needs Assessment Report was commissioned.

Reeve Leanne Beaupre says since then, there have been some changes to available ice space and operations, as the Wembley Arena had to close following a fire, and the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted how service is delivered.

At Monday’s County Council meeting, the finalized Needs Assessment Report was presented, which laid out possible ways to bring the arena back into usable condition.

The first proposal would see $770,000 spent on mold abatement and renovations. Though the arena would be able to operate following that work, it would only be a temporary fix and last for four or five years. The second proposal was to spend approximately $3.7-million for a full replacement of the facility.

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“That’s based on other arenas that have been built that are of the modest type,” says Beaupre. “The arena that would be built to replace this would be an arena that’s used for the user, not for economic development. So, we want to make sure that we’re capturing the needs of the users that are going to be there as well.”

The Ag. Society owns and operates the facility, and receives grants from both the County and the Province in order to maintain operations. Beaupre says the County needs to know whether the Ag. Society will continue to operate the facility if the County helps fix it up, and if not, then how they will allocate the provincial grant. If the Ag. Society decides they want to keep operating the facility, then County Council also needs to know to what extent they should be involved.

“We already know that they require some help in bringing it up to code and the mold abatement, so it would be just a discussion about whether Council is willing and ready to commit that kind of money just to rehabilitation, or whether we need to be looking long-term at making the investment for a future facility.”

Beaupre says Council does respect the history of the facility, and they want to make sure that members of the community are comfortable with the decisions that are made in the future. She adds that they also want to make sure that they make the best decision for long-term investments with tax-payer money.

There is no set date for when administration will report back to County Council.