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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2016-05-18, Page 22 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, May 18, 2016 Council agrees to four renovations projects to extend Ripley arena's life 30 years Darryl Coote Reporter The Township of Huron - Kinloss agreed in principle to four renovation projects that together are expected to lengthen the life of the aging local arena by a minimum of 30 years. Council signed off on the preliminary drawings May 2 giving staff permission to approach community groups for potential funding for the estimated $1.5 -mil- lion Ripley -Huron Commu- nity Centre rejuvenation project. There is no timeline to the project, said Mike Fair, Huron -Kinloss' director of Community Services, to the Lucknow Senti nel in a tele- phone interview, but now that council has okayed the initial idea staff can canvas for interest. "Now we can form some partnerships," Fair said, "and if those partnerships are very supportive then we can move forward and get some construction draw- ings done and cost estimates!' Council initiated the nwmo project in November 2015 when it hired GM Diemert to complete the conceptual drawings based on meet- ings with stakeholders, such as the local minor hockey and figuring skating organizations, the Lions Club and the Ripley Agri- cultural Society, among others. The four projects consist of: • Two additional dressing rooms that can be turned into one large dressing room as well as adding a storage room to the back for the arena • An addition of a large storage space to the south- east corner of the facility • Renovation of the south- east corner offices and stair- well exit to the bleachers as well as the addition of an elevated accessible viewing area • An addition of a large hall that can be divided into two spaces. There will also be the addition of storage space near the present kitchen at the southwest of the facility "Every plan almost comes down to storage. That's our NUCLEAR WASTE SOCIETE DE GESTION MANAGEMENT DES DECHETS ORGANIZATION NUCLEAIRES Tri r,rna r-wo r— s1Finr xw:w-x -rx '10.•-•=r RI y H aror? Comrr tinily Ccn fro and fl8' MILL C.ILL flinkeirlriliqMitTLECT Mita •20lav®a, biggest need," Fair told council that night. The plan will alleviate much of this concern, Fair said, as the additional large storage space would allow for the Ripley Agri- cultural Society, which currently stores its mate- rial under the arena bleachers, to stack all its items here. "I don't know if anybody's been underneath these bleachers, but it's getting interesting," Fair said. "And of course our volunteers and NWMO Learn More Centre The Township of Huron -Kinloss is one of nine communities involved in a process of learning about Adaptive Phased Management (APM), Canada's plan for the safe, long-term management of used nuclear fuel. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization is working collaboratively with the community to advance preliminary assessment studies. Learn about APM, meet NWMO staff, ask questions and offer your thoughts. Drop in to the NWMO community office and Learn More Centre in Ripley. Everyone is welcome. our volunteers with the (agricultural) society would certainly agree everybody's getting a little bit older and the skin on the tops of their heads is getting a little bit thinner!' The two additional dress- ing rooms would also elimi- nate issues from requiring separate dressing rooms for co-ed hockey teams. Presently, the room allo- cated for girls is too small for more than five players and these two rooms would eliminate this concern "100 i NWMO Learn More Centre (Huron -Kinloss) 80 Huron Street, Ripley ON 519.386.6711 Wednesday Thursday Friday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. per cent," her said. On the third project, the stairwell to the auditorium would be removed and one would be added by the bleachers, the landing of which would be large enough for a viewing area making the arena more accessible to those who use wheelchairs. It would allow those who are unable to use the bleacher seats to be close to the ice and not have to watch the game from behind glass, Fair said. On the second floor, the stage that currently resides at one end of the multi-pur- pose room will be replaced with an adjustable, remova- ble stage to make room for fitness equipment, which will alleviate a lot of the facil- ity's storage issues, he said. The kitchen area will also see the additional of a storage area. The fourth project will see the "gutting" of the main ground floor area to make a larger all -glass office for accessibility purposes. The large foyer would then lead to the so-called social room which will be divided by a collapsable wall. "When we were dreaming we were dreaming big," he told council, understanding its financial limitations. The project hinges on finding partners, Fair said. "They are all partnership dependent," Fair said in the follow up phone inter- view. "The only one that might not be partnership Darryl Coote/Reporter dependent is maybe the offices, but certainly the dressing room and the storage in the northeast corner are certainly very partnership dependent and really depend on those organizations and how they want to proceed in the future!' Fair told council the three priorities should be the addi- tional dressing rooms, the storage room for the agricul- tural society and renovations of the offices. "Right now our offices are essentially in dressing rooms," he said. "They're just renovated dressing rooms:' Councillor Lillian Abbott then asked for him to narrow his list to one. "I'd say the priority is where we can get the part- nerships, fundraising and funding through grant applications through fund- raising commitments from partners. I think that's key," he said. Though no pickaxes will be swung in the near future, it is good that council has signed off on this prelimi- nary designs, Fair said, as it puts the township in a posi- tion to pounce on funding opportunities when they arise. "It's kind of a step by step process," he said over the phone. "It's all funding dependent. Now at least once we have these things in place you can apply for grant programs that might come up today or next year."