Dear editor:
On Sept. 22, council, in a 6-1 vote, made the decision to move ahead with the pool/curling/multi-sport centre. This is the largest project undertaken by the town and the decision was not taken lightly. I thought I would take this opportunity to explain the rationale behind this decision.
Our current pool and curling rink are at their maximum lifespan. The cost to renovate the curling rink to bring it up to standard was estimated at $2 million. The pool is also in desperate need of a facelift. Here again, a mechanical overhaul and giving it the update it needs would be in the millions. The pool is also too small to fulfill the needs of the community. The pool is booked to capacity with programs and events and its operational loss is still almost $500K per year.
The current plan is to borrow $19 million over a five-year term for the $45 million project. Our total cost of borrowing will be $1.8 million. There was an option to wait to build, but with construction costs increasing at a rate of five per cent per year, the project would have increased in price by over $2 million per year. It made more sense, and will end up costing us way less, to borrow the money than to wait.
We have set our fundraising goal of $10.6 million. So far, we have raised just over $1.3 million. Currently, there are several high-level negotiations going on and you can expect some announcements in the very near future. As in every project, there are risks. We have taken into account these risks and built in contingency plans to address any challenges that arise.
We have $220 million in projects that have been targeted for completion in our 10 Year Financial Plan. These are prioritized by community wants and needs, availability of contractors and materials, negotiation of lands, speed of growth and several other factors.
An independent pro-forma was done on the building, and in five years it will not only be self-sustainable, but will also assist in its own life-cycling. Currently, your taxes help cover the almost $500K in losses our current pool generates.
This is a very important project for the community. It addresses our aging infrastructure and has multiple benefits. The pool has the gradual depth and splash park feature for young children; lazy river, waterslides and wave pool for pre-teens and teens; lap pool for competitive swim, triathlon training, water polo, and underwater hockey; and a warm water therapy pool to help athletes recover from injuries and for our seniors to utilize for their continued quality of life.
The curling/multi-sport has six regular sized sheets and three smaller sheets to help develop a junior program. This surface could also be utilized for public skating, figure skating and hockey for younger players. The ice can be taken out, a turf unrolled, and we now have another indoor field for soccer, football, lacrosse and other programming.
This building is being built to serve the current community’s needs, as well as the needs far into the future. It is designed with environment in mind and has incorporated many conservational aspects. It will provide jobs and training opportunities and will boost our local economy by bringing in visitors for the events that will be held there.
By being self-sustainable it will assist with the challenge of keeping our taxes lower and enabling us to focus on the many other community asks. Most importantly, it will help improve the quality of life for a great many of our citizens.
Jeff Toews, Cochrane councillor
