Since 2014, the Huntsville Curling Club has been working away at its goal to build a new multi-use facility at McCulley Robertson Recreation Park. It received an Ontario Trillium Fund grant in 2016 to hire a consultant to conduct a feasibility study, the results of which were presented to Huntsville’s General Committee in October of 2017. The club kicked off its capital fundraising campaign earlier this year when it hosted the Ontario Men’s Tankard at the Canada Summit Centre, bringing in $96,660 toward the more than $5,000,000 that will be needed for the project.
What it doesn’t yet have is a confirmed location for the facility nor its desired partnership with the Town.
Town staff had identified several potential locations for the facility at McCulley Robertson (demarked in the image above), but at the June 27 General Committee meeting councillors learned that Fowler Construction has offered all or part of its aggregate pit adjacent to McCulley Robertson for the multi-use facility with the Town to be responsible for rehabilitation of the pit.
“Fowler representatives indicated that they are willing to work with the Town to transfer ownership of 262 William Street, all or a portion,” reads the staff report presented to committee. “There is a small amount of material to be removed from the site which Fowler would complete this summer. Once done it is proposed the site be transferred to the Town who would be responsible for the rehabilitation of the site. It has been recommended to the Town that rehabilitation of the site would be done in conjunction with the construction of the new facility.”
The Town’s Director of Community Services, Kari Lambe, noted it’s a large property at 30 acres, and that staff have not yet fully investigated the legislative requirements for rehabilitation of the site, nor the costs associated with that work.
She also said that the Town has applied for an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant for the completion of a Community Services Master Plan that would include a gap analysis between the current services at municipal facilities and future growth projections to determine if a multi-use facility is needed. “(It would) talk not just about McCulley Robertson but other locations as well, and at McCulley Robertson what services are there today and what does it look like in the future.”
Although the consultant’s report has been presented, Lambe said that the Huntsville Curling Club’s multi-use facility proposal, including its request for a partnership and financial contributions from the Town, has not yet come before committee or council. She recommended that the club present its full proposal at an upcoming meeting. “I do think it’s important that committee hear the full ask and we know what the full partnership is going into the project.”
Discussions with Fowler will continue.
Related stories:
Curling Club dream of new facility is challenging but “doable”: AGM
Huntsville Curling Club asks Town to partner in new multi-use facility
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