Possible funding for West End Community Centre?
Sunday, February 24, 2013 by: Darren Taylor
There may yet be some federal funding in store for Sault Ste. Marie’s West End Community Centre (WECC).
Sault MP Bryan Hayes, speaking to SooToday.com, said he is exploring various federal funding sources to assist with the cost of building the $11.5 million facility on Goulais Avenue, which officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony October 11, 2012.
$5 million is the amount the City of Sault Ste. Marie put forward to build the WECC, while the City used another $5 million of previous money for the project allocated to the City by the Ontario government, in addition to another $1.5 million in a grant/loan mix provided by the province.
The West End Community Centre project was passed over for federal money when Ottawa pumped stimulus funding into projects nationwide after the economic crash of 2008.
Hayes told us the WECC was not approved for federal funding due to any failure to meet certain funding criteria, but that it was simply a matter of not enough stimulus funding to go around.
Hayes made the comment speaking to SooToday.com Friday at the Essar Centre, where he announced $75,000 in funding from FedNor to help market and promote the TELUS Cup National Midget Hockey Championship, to be held in Sault Ste. Marie in April.
Hayes also pointed out that the federal government provided $374,000 for upgrades to the Kiwanis Community Theatre Centre in January, and that possible funding for the WECC is still on the federal radar screen.
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thesharr 2/24/2013 3:31:04 PM ReportMaybe they can put some seating for fans and showers in the change rooms.Did you know there is only two showers per change room and about 16 players each team,yup two showers that will do,who plans these things anyway.
jessiecat 2/24/2013 4:06:40 PM ReportI thinks it great having the indoor soccer arenas close to my home you can see the parents and kids eagerly rushing into the arena anticipating their games, I am disappointed however would have been nice to see a multi use rec centre with swimming and a weight room etc, I believe more money and interest could have been made had these other avenues been considered, its hard to find a decent priced gym membership in this town, seems like a lot of space designated to just one sport that sits idle while no game play.
vic-star 2/24/2013 5:01:12 PM ReportI think that the west end community centre was a great idea, although I believe that it would have been even more beneficial if they added 2 ice pads to it, and tore down the McMeekan. That way there would consistently be people using the centre, and it would somewhat help ease the situation of trying to get ice time.
stiJJy 2/24/2013 8:58:49 PM ReportI agree with the above two comments. It had/has a lot of potential to be a multi-use rec centre, something like the YMCA or John Rhodes. A pool, some squash/racquetball courts, combine the McMeeken property into it and add a rink or two...
