Budget time in Lloydminster has brought forward a variety of topics and the fate of the Centennial Civic Centre was on full display.
The arena, built in 1967, holds 1,700 seats on the Saskatchewan side of Lloydminster. On the City of Lloydminster’s website, it says the building will not be sold or repurposed.
The arena will still operate in the upcoming year and has some budget impacts. Coun. Jonathan Torresan asked about the operation of the facility during budget discussions.
“From the time it’s going to be decommissioned as being used for a rink to the time it’s ultimately demolished, is there going to be continued use of the hall upstairs,” asked Torresan.
The question was answered by Tracy Simpson, executive manager, Community Development Services.
“I believe we’re planning to cease operations of the entire facility by October of next year, reflected in this budget is ice not going back in for the fall season but continuing to operate the upstairs to finish out bookings, which I believe stretch out into October,” she said.
The building will be prepared for demolition following its sunset as an arena and event facility.
“It does take a lot of time to prepare a building for demolition and so we don’t want to continue to operate it so we can start preparing for all the activities that go into preparing a building for demolition,” said Simpson.
The building will go through remediation to prepare for its eventual demolition.
“Especially in a building like this that is of a certain age and has asbestos in the building that would require remediation,” said Simpson.
According to the Government of Alberta, “Asbestos can be released during demolition, renovation and disposal activities, and can have adverse health effects on unprotected workers.”
Materials that may release asbestos will need to be removed ahead of time.
Once the Cenovus Energy Hub is done, the Civic Centre will cease operation and staff will be moved.
“We don’t have the staffing capacity to operate both facilities, the model has always been to transfer our labour resources from the civic centre over to the Cenovus Energy Hub so at some point we just have to move the employees over and we won’t have the capacity to continue to operate,” said Simpson.
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