Guelph/Eramosa council has learned a grant it had hoped would pay for a new open air pavilion-style ice rink in Rockwood won’t be sufficient. The township continues to look for other opportunities to fund the facility.
At Monday’s council meeting, director of parks and recreation Robert Milne told council he had run the numbers and there currently wasn’t a way to build the rink and supporting amenity building without funding part of it through taxes. A green infrastructure grant the township had its eye on would only cover $7.25 million of the $12.5 million project.
For that reason Milne recommended the township not apply for the grant and instead continue to look for other sources of funding.
“I’m not able to pull a rabbit out of my hat on this one,” Milne said, “and it’s not for a lack of trying.”
It’s not the first disappointment the township has had trying to make the rink at Rockmosa Park a reality. In 2019, it applied for funding through a different joint provincial/federal grant for a larger version of the project that included a NHL-sized indoor ice surface, as well as an indoor walking track, multipurpose court and a older adult/youth centre. That application was not successful. In 2019, the estimated cost of the larger recreation centre was $18 million. It has since risen to $23.7 million.
On Monday, Coun. Corey Woods said he didn’t want to see the township compromise its original idea because of financial constraints.
“We were not successful with that grant, but I mean if we were happy with that building, I think we should stick to our guns and try to find a way to do (it),” he said. “I would hate to build something terrible but it fit into a funding model.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Chris White said the bigger facility was still on the table, but things were dependent on how much money the township could get from the province and the federal government.
“I think we kind of know what we want and we’ve laid that park out,” White said. “At the end of the day I think we’re really trying to figure out a way to skate over there."
