ST. PAUL – The Clancy Richard Arena is aging and needs repairs.
Crumbling concrete, an outdated ice plant, a slab floor that has exceeded its 50-year lifespan, as well as numerous building code violations that leave the facility out of compliance with today’s safety standards has created the need for upgrades to ensure the busy arena remains operational for the community.
But the Town of St. Paul may have to spend $4.1 million to deal with the issue.
In 2022, the Town of St. Paul applied for the Green and Inclusive Community Buildings Federal Funding program (GICB) grant to help cover the repairs – but the application was not successful.
Administration has been working with Associated Engineering to enhance the application, with the hopes of being accepted this time.
Changes in the application include improving the arena’s energy efficiency by installing a solar array capable of producing up to 149 kilowatts of power to offset electricity usage, according to Town of St. Paul CAO Steven Jeffery.
The total estimated costs for the repair to the arena is $9.95 million.
However, the GICB could only cover up to 80 per cent of a proposed project’s eligible expenses. In this case, that would be about $8 million.
The remaining $2 million would have to be covered by the Town. The municipality also has to cover the 30 per cent contingency for the whole project, because large projects often result in unforeseen costs.
This means, “the Town would potentially be funding $4.1 million toward the project,” said Jeffery.
During discussions that took place at the Oct. 5 council meeting, Coun. Norm Noel made a motion to approve the request to allow council to begin the discussion.
Coun. Nathan Taylor said that based on the Town’s five-year plan, the budgeted repair for the arena was previously significantly lower. He questioned how the costs increased so much.
Jeffery said that previously, under the capital budget, the arena was listed to only require repairs for the ice plant and the floorboards. “I believe we had that estimated capital budget at $1.8 million,” said Jeffery.
“This past summer . . . we’ve tried to update that capital budget by just finding out what the ice plant would be worth,” he added, and said that repairs and upgrades for the ice plant alone would cost about $1.8 million – not including the floors.
Jeffery also said that upgrades and repairs of prioritized items to extend the arena’s lifespan, such as potentially fixing the radiant heaters, the bleachers, and more, could be close to the $3 million in the present economy.
“What GICB does, is it gives us access to more dollars,” he said. But GICB also requires an application to meet certain criteria, like requiring projects to be more inclusive and energy efficient.”
Taylor said he supports the application and would like to see if the Town of St. Paul gets accepted. But he suggested council have more discussions before taking on $4.1 million in debt.
“We've talked about this at the joint municipality meetings about . . . green projects [needing] to be cost effective. They need to lower the cost – the operating cost. And if we're spending an extra few million dollars on reducing greenhouse emissions, are we getting that money back in [lowered] cost?” questioned Taylor.
“I don’t think we can necessarily afford to do it,” he added, noting other expenses such as underground sewer repairs also needing to be done.
Unless the Town can finance its capital projects to over 60 or 80 years, “We’re not going to have the clash flow . . . to pay for the debt that we need,” added Taylor.
Coun. Ron Boisvert asked what the Town’s finances would would look like if council were to add an extra $4.1 million in debt.
Taylor said the Town is paying back $1.1 million worth of debt each year. “We can add three and a half more per year – not that we can afford it,” he added.
Following more discussion, council directed administration to submit the grant application. Council also expressed the idea of engaging with the public in the future regarding the arena.
