Council moves forward with funding application for multi-purpose recreation, culture hub

Jesse Bonello - Staff Writer

Sioux Lookout’s Municipal Council hosted a special council meeting on Nov. 6 to review the recommendations put forth by staff for projects that would qualify under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) - Community, Culture and Recreation Funding Stream Ontario Program.
“The Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) is a cost-shared infrastructure funding program between the federal government, provinces and territories, and municipalities and other recipients. This program will see up to $30 billion in combined federal, provincial and other partner funding, under four priority areas, including Community, Culture and Recreation. The Community, Culture and Recreation stream will support community infrastructure priorities across the province, improving access to and / or quality of community, cultural, and recreation priority infrastructure project,” the Ontario Grants website reads.
The ICIP provides municipalities, First Nations, other Indigenous communities/organizations, broader public sector organizations, non-profit organizations, and broader public sector organizations an opportunity to access, through an application process, up to 50 million dollars in funding for eligible projects.
“Approximately $407 million in federal funding and $320 million in provincial funding will be available for the Community, Culture and Recreation stream over 10 years starting in 2019-20… The Community, Culture and Recreation stream supports projects that improve access to and/or quality of community, cultural, and recreation priority infrastructure projects. Priority is given to projects that are community-oriented, non-commercial and open to the public. Projects must be completed prior to 2027-28,” a report presented to council from Vicki Blanchard, Economic Development Manager, states.
Blanchard presented a report to Council that outlined three eligible project recommendations.
The report presented to Council from Blanchard states, “The Manager of Development Services, Public Works, Recreation and Culture and Economic Development have reviewed the criteria in detail and are recommending three projects that may qualify under the ICIP - Community, Culture and Recreation Funding stream.”
The three options were Umfreville Trail rehabilitation, rehabilitation of the Sioux Lookout Memorial Arena and Recreation Centre, and a multi-purpose new build/construction.
“It is the recommendation of staff that Council consider investing in a new location to construct a Multi-purpose facility utilizing the current level of investment to maintain and in addition apply the Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) on an annual basis to offset the cost of the construction… With the opportunity to access up to $50 million dollars in funding from the Federal and Provincial governments and having seven (7) years to complete provides the Municipality of Sioux Lookout with an opportunity in partnership with community residents, organizations and business to develop a pre-construction plan and design work and construct a new Multi-Purpose Recreation and Cultural Hub that will improve access and increase the quality of cultural, recreational and community infrastructure that is the cornerstone of Sioux Lookout… Considering funding for Recreation and Culture Infrastructure only comes every 30 years and considering the ongoing investment to maintain the existing recreation centre would eventually exceed the $9 million estimated Municipal contribution to build a new facility, staff recommends that Council takes this opportunity to capitalize on the Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) - Community, Culture and Recreation Funding,” the report presented to council from Blanchard states.
After hearing the three eligible project recommendations, which included project details and costs from the report, Council unanimously voted in favor to move forward with a funding application for a new multi-purpose recreation and culture hub.
Both municipal staff and Council emphasized that, due to tight deadlines and when funding information was released, they had to quickly schedule the Nov. 6 meeting in order to come to a decision to support a funding application for an eligible project.
“In September, I believe, the federal and provincial governments finally agreed on releasing this funding stream, but they put a deadline on it at November 12. Thus we’re in this tight crunch, and I want to say thank you to our staff for putting together a report, and we had to have a special council meeting to get to it,” said Mayor Doug Lawrance during the special council meeting.
“I was asked to contact Council to determine their availability for a special council meeting. We have many council meetings in October, November, and December with the budget, with training, and a number of special meetings… Because this particular project was a significant opportunity for the municipality, we wanted to do our best to make sure everyone could be there so, ultimately, it was agreed that November 6 would be the best date. We advertised that to the public a week in advance on October 30. Our procedure by-law says that we’re required to provide two days’ notice for special meetings, and we provided seven (days),” said Municipal Clerk Brian MacKinnon.
The official deadline to submit applications was Nov. 12, but Blanchard explained that the window to submit applications was actually shorter.
“They encourage you not to all try and download your applications on November 12. November 11 is a holiday so they don’t know, technically, if it’s a smart idea, so in fact we’ve been working diligently to do our due diligence and our anticipated day of submission will be this Friday (Nov. 8),” said Blanchard.
The Preliminary Design Planning for a potential Sioux Lookout Community Recreation Hub states, “The Municipality of Sioux Lookout engaged Keewatin-Aski Ltd. to prepare Preliminary Design Planning information for a proposed Recreation Hub. Sioux Lookout is one of the fastest growing communities in the region. Based on previous studies, it is apparent that the demand for recreation amenities cannot be adequately met by the current facilities. With the existing Sioux Lookout Memorial Arena and Fitness Centre being located in the developed central business district core, opportunity for expansion is limited. The Municipality identified the following primary uses for the Recreation Hub:
Two NHL regulation size ice rinks, one of which can be used as a regulation size curling rink with 4 sheets
Indoor pool sized for 5 competition lanes and swimming lessons
Recreation Space (weight room, cardio, squash courts)
Cafeteria/Conference space
Administrative office space for the facility
Meeting Space
Common Space including washrooms, lobby, corridors, mechanical/electrical, maintenance
Site Development including parking”
“The overall cost of this project currently sits at approximately $42,283,000 million dollars,” the report to Council states.
Blanchard explained that Sioux Lookout would be on the hook for just over 25 per cent of the total project cost, but the report to council identifies a specific area where Sioux Lookout can reduce their contribution significantly.
“The federal government would be 40 per cent of the total project, the provincial government would be 33.33 per cent of the project, and the applicant would be 26.67 per cent. Because our community is over 50 per cent indigenous, I’ve been having several conversations about opportunities to reduce that percentage based on the partnerships that could become,” said Blanchard.
“One of the most important areas of recognition by the Ministry was the Municipality's Truth & Reconciliation Committee and the work that has been recorded to date. It was recommended that we seek direction to identify an off-reserve Indigenous partner in support of the application for this project which could lower the Municipal contribution to 6.67 per cent, according to Sioux Lookout's Regional Advisor with the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport,” the report states.
The report to council shows that, at 26.67 per cent, the Municipality’s contribution total would be $11,276,876 for the estimated $42,283,000 project. Blanchard said the collection of Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) would lower the Municipality’s contribution total.
“If we start to collect that (MAT) tax, starting now, for seven years we would raise 1.57 million dollars that could be put towards the overall cost, bringing the cost of our first initial cost to 9.7 million (from 11.27 million). We also don’t have to take out the debenture, or finish the project, until the 2027-2028 fiscal year,” said Blanchard.
The Preliminary Design Planning for the potential Sioux Lookout Community Recreation Hub features a preliminary site plan, which shows the potential project preliminarily located North of Seventh Avenue.
“Having the facility located near the Meno Ya Win Health Centre and on the golf course, and their old Golf and Curling Club would become their maintenance and storage shed, so they’re (Golf and Curling Club) actually willing to work towards raising the funds and working with us on a shared vision. That shared vision would also put us in proximity of our ball diamonds and other recreation facilities, the high school, the college. Confederation College wants to meet with us on Monday. I’m going to visit with them. They’re looking to, and have been speaking to our funders, on accessing funding for residence to be attached to the facility if the municipality was open to that. That would be a source of revenue for the golf course; it could be a source of revenue for the recreation centre,” said Blanchard during the meeting.
Blanchard confirmed the location is not finalized by any means. She said the preliminary site plan is for the purposes of applying for funding.
“This is not a chosen location… Land is not eligible to be purchased, so we either have to put it on our land or a partner that gives us the land and that’s where the Golf and Curling Club said ‘we have lots of land, we just don’t have money’ where we can get the money for them and they can give us the land,” said Blanchard.
The Municipality of Sioux Lookout, along with Council, explained that, at this point, the state of the potential project is still in the very early stages and unapproved. The municipality won’t be notified of a potential approval until 2020.
“This is very preliminary at this point. We put this application in, and it could take anywhere from six to eight months to hear if we’re even approved to move forward with an application. From that point, there’s going to be public consultation. I think the idea right now is to put in an application that would include everything we could possibly want and then, through the public consultation and due diligence phase, we would look at the project being reduced in scope a bit. That would all be fleshed out over the next eight to ten months,” said MacKinnon.
MacKinnon confirmed that, if approved to move forward, public consultation will be part of the planning process. MacKinnon said public consultation could potentially be covered through the grant.
“One of the benefits of applying early is that the costs for doing the public consultation, and so on, could be covered by the grant if we’re successful with the application. It may take a number of months to get to that point but, once we get to that point, it provides funding to be able to do some of that public engagement and consultation. There are many different perspectives about what recreation needs in the community might be. Certainly the Municipality and Council in particular, is very interested in hearing from the community on that. Although this particular aspect of the process did come together fairly quickly because it had to due to government timelines, and by government I mean other orders of government not ours, but this is our opportunity to get our community in the running for some of this money that is available. As we further develop the scope of the project, based on Council’s vision and the community’s desires and needs, certainly things will change a lot over the next couple years during that initial phase,” said MacKinnon.
“There will need to be things done like costing studies to look at what it’s going to cost to operate a facility of this nature. Before we can even look at doing costing we need to first finalize what exactly will be included in it. It’s going to be a process. Another thing that was pretty clear is that, even if we’re selected moving forward with a project, we’re looking at potentially 2025 before construction would be completed, so this is definitely a multi-year project and process,” he said.
During the special council meeting, Council members and members of the public had an opportunity to ask questions, display their concerns, and add comments.
“It’s not very often 50 million (dollars) essentially falls right in your lap… I think we would be foolish to squander the opportunity on minor projects if there’s an opportunity to do this large project. We can always get three million dollars. Obviously we get it all the time for roads; it’s not a big deal. 42 million dollars is a big deal, so I think the numbers that we’re seeing here are very much in line with what we spoke about several years ago… I support this. It does so much for the municipality. It shows that we are thinking ahead, it shows that we are a progressive community, and it shows a positive attitude,” said Councillor John Bath during the meeting.
“Regarding the current facility we have, you were saying something about we would not be compliant by 2025. If we need to go ahead and sell that, what is that building worth?” asked Councillor Cory Lago.
“We do have a lot of commercial interest if that building was to be deregulated. There’s organizations right across the street that would probably plow it down and build on it. They’re already developing their plans, looking at that landscape,” answered Blanchard.
“I just want it understood that I’m not against any of this. I’ve always been a recreation guy myself and I think it’s a great idea… A standalone pool we can’t afford, but a whole complex we might be able to work that out. I think it would be great. It would be beneficial to everybody in this town… I think everybody has to sit down and realistically look at this and say ‘can we really afford it?’, and the only way you can tell that is if you do a life-cycle cost analysis and come back to the taxpayer, and the people, and tell us that we can afford this and show it to us on paper. Like I said, I’m not against anything recreation. I would support it if it’s feasible,” said Remi Lorteau, Sioux Lookout resident.
“The one thing I do question is our debt load going forward and how we’re going to carry it, and one thing I’ve done is I’ve gone through our financial statements and looked. As you alluded to, we wouldn’t be on the hook for these payments until 2027-2028… We’re looking at about, by 2028, payments of about $25,000 a month will be off the books and the loans that we currently have, plus $80,000 a year with some of the semi-annual loan payments we have right now, so that is going to reduce some of the debt that we do have at that time. Now, I understand that is seven years out, and a lot can happen in seven years, but with what we’re saying with these partnerships and trying to build stuff is we have that time to engage in fundraising, engage in partnership building, and try to make up some of that difference… Based on what I see, worst case in 2027, that the debt load we have coming off can be compensated with this rec centre but if we do build partnerships it’s just going to better help us,” said Councillor Joe Cassidy.
The report presented to Council contains excerpts from letters that were collected from the municipality’s community partners in the past.
"We would like to work with the Municipality of Sioux Lookout to develop an innovative approach to recreational planning that will address the short and long term needs of our community,” said the Northwest Catholic District School Board.
"The Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority provides support to 32 First Nations communities in northwestern Ontario. Through our Approaches to Community Wellbeing, and other initiatives, we are committed to serving the youth in our communities regardless of where they are. As many of our youth leave communities to attend school at Queen Elizabeth District High School (currently Sioux North High School) and Pelican Falls First Nations High School, we recognize that initiatives in Sioux Lookout are important to their overall wellbeing and success while far away from home and attending school. As such, we recognize that opportunities for sports in Sioux Lookout can benefit those attending school in Sioux Lookout as well as those back at home in their communities through participation in sports camps or tournaments,” said the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority.
"Our First Nations' population is growing as people move out of northern communities. Aboriginal students now represent eighty per cent of our student body. We want our town to offer facilities for recreation that encourages healthy lifestyles. We will need our families to stay to work in employment positions that support our aging population. Building an attractive community to entice people to remain longer term is very important,” said Sioux Mountain Public School.
At the beginning of the special council meeting, Sioux Lookout resident Sarah Fraser presented on behalf of Sioux Lookout Water Ways, which is a community pool initiative, to advocate for a multi-use recreation facility with the specific inclusion of a pool.
The Sioux Lookout Water Ways campaign began after the community was no longer able to access the Best Western pool in 2018. Fraser was providing "Sarah’s Swimmers" Red Cross swimming lessons at the Best Western pool.
Fraser said that she, along with fellow swim instructor Andrea Cole, joined forces with a few parents, Rikki Burke and Yoko Schreiber, who initiated a campaign towards expressing the common desire for a community pool in the municipality. She said other local families have also helped to advocate their cause to make a community pool a reality for Sioux Lookout.
Fraser said their petition for a community pool has 595 signatures.
“A strong aspiration to have a community pool has continuously been expressed by a significant number of our residents for several years. On behalf of these men, women, seniors, children, infants, and including residents with special needs, I am making an earnest plea to you today. We are specifically asking you to choose a multi-use recreation and culture facility with the inclusion of a pool when applying for this infrastructure fund… This past Saturday, November 2, members of Sioux Lookout Water Ways stood outside of Fresh Market Foods and collected 252 petition signatures in only two hours,” said Fraser during her presentation.
“There is nowhere to swim in Sioux Lookout nine months of the year, and the lake is not an accessible or safe option for everyone. A new recreation centre with a pool is a necessary step in order to help Sioux Lookout become more accessible.
“Swimming or exercising in water is the only form of low-impact exercise that many seniors can do, including many adults with knee injuries, as well as people of all ages who have other disabilities. I, personally, have instructed six people with disabilities who say that swimming is the only sport they can do with ease and which helps their bodies improve significantly. We must make our community more accessible for people by offering more forms of recreation,” Fraser further stated during her presentation.
Fraser also touched on the public health and safety benefits of having a local pool, economical benefits of a local pool, and new technologies that lower operating costs of a pool.
Fraser’s presentation featured comments that Sioux Lookout Water Ways received from local residents during their ongoing community pool initiative.
“Pools are not just for having a good time; they are very therapeutic. There are very many seniors who require this type of exercising and the ability to walk in the pool. They are not able to go to the gym for the exercise they require. Unfortunately, our gym is on the second floor and many people cannot walk up or down that number of stairs. This was not considered when our Rec Centre was being designed. There is so much money in this town that is spent on only those recreation activities the young can participate in. The town council has to realize that they too one day will be suffering from arthritis, falls, or have other problems that may prohibit other forms of activity. Yes, pools are on the expensive side. However, the seniors of today are the ones who built this town and it is time they are recognized,” said Eileen Jeffrey, former town councillor for 11 years and Seniors Centre treasurer for 19 years.
“It took me a long time to find a sport that I liked. Swimming has given me confidence and done a lot for me. It makes me sad I can’t swim in my own town. I have to drive twice a week to Dryden so I can swim. I wish other kids in our community had the opportunity to learn how amazing swimming is,” said Jaxson Coughlin, 11-year-old Sioux Lookout resident.
Following her presentation, Council members and members of the public had the opportunity to ask Fraser follow-up questions, display concerns, or add comments.
“I would like Council to really look at all of the benefits that we’re going to get from this pool. I know we look at the expenses and people say whoa this is a big expense… I was going to the Best Western pool until they stopped us from going there, and there were other people there who were unable to exercise in any other way but being in the pool. They have nowhere else to go now. I would predict that, because they’re not able to exercise in the way they were doing, their health issues may worsen more quickly than if they had an opportunity to exercise in a pool. I encourage the engineer here, and other people, to really look at the new technologies that’s going to reduce the costs of operating a pool. Sarah has mentioned that, but I think we need to really look closely at how we can ensure that we can reduce the cost of operating as much as possible,” said George Hoggarth, Sioux Lookout resident.
“There’s a lot to running a pool. I lived in a town that had a pool, in Kenora actually, and I know people that work there, and it’s quite expensive to run a pool… They revamped the Kenora pool. There’s all kinds of new pumps. It’s still expensive. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have a pool too. I have three young kids, but I just personally think we’re tapped out as far as taxes go. The amount of money it’s going to cost to run a pool, I really don’t know if it’s doable,” said Sean Gaudry, Sioux Lookout resident.
“I’ve been a swimming instructor and I’ve lived on the water all my life. In Sioux Lookout, we are like an isthmus. We’re a little lick of land surrounded by water, and it’s really scary when you are out boating with people that say ‘I can’t swim’. They’re not wearing life jackets and they’re not doing the proper thing to make themselves safe. I’ve taught swimming lessons in the lake, and they’re not as advantageous as swimming lessons in a pool and that makes people ready to be in a lake,” said Anne Saltel, Sioux Lookout resident.
“We talked about pools, but what kind of pool do you have in mind?” asked Councillor Cory Lago.
“A competitive size one would benefit us sports tourism wise. It would have to be a 25 meter pool,” said Fraser.
After seeing council unanimously vote in favor to move forward with a funding application for a new multi-purpose recreation and culture hub, Fraser said she was thrilled to move one-step closer to seeing an accessible recreation environment in Sioux Lookout, which could include a pool.
“It’s not just about a pool. It’s about an accessible, all-inclusive recreational environment that any age can find something positive and healthy to take part in,” she said.
For more information on Sioux Lookout Water Ways’ ongoing community pool initiative, check out their Facebook page by searching @SLWATERWAYS.
To see the full report presented to Council, as well as the entire Preliminary Design Planning Sioux Lookout Recreation Hub, go to https://bit.ly/2NAHHl5.