
Kamloops council has green-lit a plan to design the new arena multiplex with a maximum of four ice rinks.
Council approved the design recommendation, which stemmed from council's Build Kamloops committee, during its Tuesday meeting.
City of Kamloops staff and consultants floated the idea of fitting six ice sheets into the arena multiplex, which is planned for a city-owned site at 2070 Hillside Dr., but ultimately decided four sheets would provide a better fit for the property.
The Build Kamloops committee heard in October that a four-sheet multiplex would minimize the amount of earthworks needed on the property and would optimize site flow.
Coun. Stephen Karpuk asked Tuesday if there would was any possibility of adding to the site in the future.
“As I read this, it basically looks like it’s hamstringing us to a maximum of four rinks. I just want to be clear, are we adding a mini rink? Are we adding other things?” Karpuk asked.
He also asked if the city was looking at the possibility of future expansion as it designed the building.
Jen Fretz, the city’s director of civic operations, said staff are doing everything they can to allow for flexibility, and would look for opportunities where future expansion might be possible, but it might not happen given site constraints.
“Normally I would say absolutely. And the reason I hesitate to say absolutely is because of the constraints of the site,” she said. “If it were a big open field where we had no concerns whatsoever, absolutely — but this one, I think that ‘absolutely’ is not quite as easily given.”
She said staff don’t yet have an estimate for how much it will be for earthworks on the site, but noted the more they can do to minimize earth moving, the lower construction costs will be.
'A mountain to move'
Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson asked if they were “beyond the point” of looking at different locations for the arena multiplex.
“There’s a mountain to move to put the four rinks there,” he said.
Fretz said council’s direction was to go with the Hillside Drive location, and staff have spent a lot of time and money on the plan as is.
“We’ve done a bunch of work on site to get more information. So we’re heavily invested in that site for this multi-rink complex, but that’s not to say there wouldn’t be future project opportunities at a number of different locations,” she said.
“Specifically to this multiplex, the Hillside location is where we have invested the time and the money.”
Byron McCorkell, the city’s CAO, said staff came forward to council with options, this specific property was selected, and they are now in the middle of final designs for the site. He noted any other option would have come with its own set of challenges.
“Every site has a cost. If we don’t own it, it has a bigger cost,” McCorkell said.
The city owns the Hillside Drive property. When the project was announced, Coun. Mike O’Reilly, chair of the Build Kamloops committee, said using municipal land would allow the city to take the money it would have used to purchase property and put it into the facility instead.
Aside from the ice sheets, the building is planned to include a total of 16 player dressing rooms and eight officials’ dressing rooms, a coaches’ space, multi-purpose rooms, operations and administration space, and a fitness room that will be able to be used by the public.
Held up in court
Following an alternate approval process, Kamloops council adopted a bylaw authorizing the city to borrow up to $135 million, $125 million of which would be put towards building the arena multiplex.
The project is estimated to cost a total of $140 million.
The project, along with a planned performing arts centre, is the subject of a legal challenge filed in B.C. Supreme Court by a Kamloops woman who wants the matter put to referendum. A hearing was held on Wednesday and the judge’s decision will be forthcoming.
Both projects are in limbo until the court matter is dealt with. The judge did not indicate when his decision would be coming, but said he would work to get a decision rendered "as soon as possible."
In addition to that proceeding, a group of 10 Kamloops voters have filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court seeking to have O’Reilly removed from office over an alleged conflict of interest connected to his involvement with the city’s plans to build the arena multiplex. O’Reilly has filed a response saying there is no merit to these claims.