Millions of dollars in upgrades to the ice facilities in the Mitchell Arena are set to get underway.
West Perth Council is moving ahead on the planned work to upgrade the facilities at the West Perth Mitchell Arena and Community Centre. CAO Daniel Hobson says the contract has been awarded to CIMCO Refrigeration, a division of Toromont Industries Ltd., who will replace the refrigeration room, refrigeration system and the concrete ice pad and dashers.
The arena will close at the end of this month to get the work started, on March 31, when the ice is removed, with April 6 slated as the day to get the project going.
"We want to start with decommissioning the old plant and getting the new refrigeration room off the back built, so that's kind of priority one and then we can set up that new room and get the new system installed," Hobson shared.
Following that, in June, a new ice pad will be poured.
"So a 4-8 day pour and then the really important thing with a new concrete pad like that is you want to do a really slow letdown or cool it down very, very slowly. That way you don't get any cracks, you don't want to shock it," Hobson added
Hobson notes this work needed done first, which will be followed later by things like a roof replacement, among other things.
"We still have the budget there but we don't have the firm quotes there for some of those other projects. But we got lots of time for those and to be quite frank, while a new roof would be nice, it really doesn't impact next ice season whereas the pad and the plant do, so those are priority one for a reason," he explained.
Hobson says the hope is these upgrades will last for the estimated lifespan for the building which is thought to be roughly 50 years. The refrigeration and pad replacement had a budget of $3.9 million and came in at just over $3.5.
Other highlighted projects, like the new roof, existing room renovations, new heaters for the stands, shower upgrades and more are budgeted at just over $4.9 million, but as Hobson says, those have yet to be tendered.
Additionally, the municipality is applying for funding from the Ontario Trillium Grant, which could provide up to $200,000 in funding toward eligible capital components of the project. On top of that, Councillor Ryan Duck initiated a Kraft Hockeyville campaign, which "has received strong support from both the Municipality and the broader community," according to the report to council.
