$43-million upgrade approved for Red Deer community hub

RED DEER, ALTA. — Improvements to the G.H. Dawe Community centre in Red Deer have been funded by the city’s 2021 capital budget.

The city intends to spend more than $43 million to improve access, increase opportunities to modernize programming, provide additional outdoor amenities, upgrade the current ice surface and add a second ice surface.

After the second ice surface is complete, crews will decommission Kinex Arena, which is at the end of its life. Officials did not approve any capital funding to repair or replace it.

The project’s total budget is $43.3 million with just over $15.1 million in federal funding through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) grant and $12.9 million from the Province of Alberta through Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) funding.

The options for modernization/improvements that city council approved are as follows:

• To meet ice user needs with the decommissioning of the Kinex Arena:
  • modernization of the existing ice surface to NHL standard size
  • twinning of existing arena
  • relocate underground services to facilitate the twin
• To meet parking, site servicing and egress requirements:
  • introduce right in and right out site access off of 67 Street for improved traffic flow and parking
  • create facility access on the north side of the facility
• To align with Phase 2 of the 2007 G.H. Dawe Master Plan:
  • review fitness/programming and barrier-free access opportunities
  • outdoor spray park and outdoor washroom facility

“Proceeding with the G.H. Dawe Community Centre project right now enables the community to benefit from economies of scale while stimulating our local economy at a time when our community needs it most,” said Mayor Tara Veer in a statement. “We are in the position of having predictable federal and provincial funding in place, and approval of the municipal portion ensures we can maintain the current asset.”

Work is expected to start in 2021 with completion of the additional second ice surface triggering the decommissioning of the Kinex Arena. Under the requirements of the federal ICIP grant, the project must be complete by Oct. 31, 2027.

The G.H. Dawe Community Centre is a community hub. It is shared by the G.H. Dawe Community School, the G.H. Dawe Branch of the Red Deer Public Library and St. Patrick’s Community School.