Date: 2010/02/09

Byline: Wawmeesh G. Hamilton

 Athletic Hall gets a $1-million federal boost

A $1-million federal grant has propelled the new Alberni Athletic Hall a giant leap forward.

Nanaimo-Alberni MP James Lunney presented the six-figure endowment to Athletic Hall Society in front of the new property Tuesday morning.

“We’re ecstatic about this,“ Athletic Hall Society chair Spencer said. “Ten days ago James Lunney asked me if I was smiling before he told me, well I haven’t stopped since.”

The money is underwritten with funds from the Recreation Infrastructure Canada (RInC) program, an application to which was submitted last winter.

Spencer is confident that the Valley will see a new hall sooner rather than later. “The building process will start in the next month,” Spencer said.

“I’m 90 per cent certain that it will be built and open in October or November of this year,” he later said.

The Athletic Hall was an important recreational-cultural-social cornerstone in the Valley, and it will be again, Lunney said. “Your community has always been tremendous with sporting events.”

“I know that Port Alberni has been slammed by the economy,” he said.

The money buttresses the $1.2-million insurance settlement the society received last year.

At $2.2-million, the money still falls short of the $2.5-million it will cost to build the new facility.

The society still has fundraising to do.

City economic development manager Pat Deakin confirmed that the society’s $360,000 application to ICE-T was turned down on Friday, Feb. 5. Funding policies preclude recreational facilities. “We tried to sell it as an events centre – we knew it was a long shot,” Deakin said.

But, other efforts are underway. A special sports fundraiser featuring media personalities Jim Robson and John McKeachie is slated for May 7, Spencer said.

Meanwhile, land swap discussions between the city and society have all but concluded. All that remains is a council resolution to consummate the arrangement, which is expected at council’s Feb. 22 meeting.

The old site is vacant, and the landscape still appears cauterized; nevertheless a new hall could technically have been built on it. But things have changed since its inception.

“There are different flood plane laws and building requirements today than when it was first built,” Spencer said. “Re-building there would have been costly.”

The 0.8 acre former Athletic Hall site and 1.23 acre new site were determined by each party to be equal in value. Both are zoned P-1 institutional, and don’t require rezoning or text amendment.