Feasibility study released means new plan of attack for proposed recreational centre in Minnedosa

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Published on Friday, January 17, 2014

By: Lanny Stewart

myWestman.ca

A feasibility study shows that there are issues to the proposed business plan and design of Minnedosa's new recreational facility. 

This past fall, Minnedosa Town Council employed the services of J. Harper and Associates  who did an extensive report on the proposed business plan. The report was recently released and the findings showed several problems with the MREC (Minnedosa Regional Events Centre) plan overall.

The report was completed by Jack Harper, who is considered an expert in the field of recreational facility development. Five key questions such as market support, feasibility and can the centre operate for the cost outlined in the plan, were answered in the report. After a lengthy review, it was noted in the report that the "consultants cannot support the project in its current form, nor do they believe in abandoning the project."

"We were pretty disappointed," said Minnedosa mayor Ray Orr. "I guess in some ways you could see this coming."

The initial idea for the centre first surfaced in 2009. Over the next few years, plans began to take shape and local fundraising events were held. However, Orr explains that the market for a recreational centre such as the proposed MREC has changed.

"It was almost like you got hit by a perfect storm of circumstances of things that have kind of changed since we started this," said Orr. "There's less people playing hockey. The costs have gone up… you end up thinking to yourself, well, we're going to end up in a pretty significant shortfall here and I'm not sure that our community can sustain that."

The original plan for the MREC included two sheets of ice, however Orr says because of the study released, plans have been modified.

"We're going to move forward on the basis of one sheet [of ice]," he said. 

Orr says the MREC building committee will soon be sitting down with Harper and both sides will look at ways to move forward.

"We'll sit down with him and we'll determine what we think the needs are. We'll probably talk with the user groups again and decide what we can afford and go from there.

"We'll try and do the best we can, taking into account the long term interests of the town," Orr continued.

It's expected that project stakeholders will be contacted in the near future and will be informed of the altered plans to the MREC and will be allowed the opportunity to retract their donations.

Despite the setback, Orr says the project will continue to move forward and a new facility will be built at some point.

"It will be completed for sure. Our old building is very long in the tooth. It's done its job. It's well past its best-before date. It [project] will go forward… it's just a matter of what it's going to look like when it's done and be sure that we can do what we can afford."

The feasibility study can be viewed online here.