Three Options Still On The Table For The Goderich Memorial Arena

by Bob Montgomery

The Goderich Memorial Arena Task Force met on Monday morning to discuss options for the arena.

Goderich Mayor Trevor Bazinet says they'll have a special council meeting on March 3rd at which time a recommendation will be made to council regarding which consultant they would like the municipality to hire to continue the process of gathering public input around what residents of the town would like to see done with the arena. The arena was closed in January until further notice over safety concerns.

Bazinet says there are still three options on the table. The first is leave the arena as it is. The second is demolish the arena and build something new. And the third is demolish the building and don't build anything to replace it. He says a recommendation will be coming to council from the task force for council to make a decision on what consultant they should hire to get more input from Goderich residents.

But Bazinet points out, the Memorial Arena means a lot to most Goderich residents and they want to consider that in their decision. While they acknowledge that recreational facilities traditionally do run a deficit, they also have to keep cost in mind if they decide to rebuild or renovate, or even if they just demolish the existing building, so they have to know what any cost might be before they go ahead with a project. He says another thing they'll have to consider is what kind of revenue a new facility should generate because the current building isn't generating any revenue, so that's not sustainable.

Bazinet says the bottom line is they have an opportunity to do something significant for future generations, so they want to get it right.