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Huntsville has a ‘50/50’ chance of getting media centre: mayor
By Jan. 5, the Town of Huntsville should know whether or not its proposal to construct a media centre/second ice pad that would be attached to the Huntsville Centennial Centre is accepted.
“If we’re going to have this project done by March of 2010, I need an answer in January. An answer in March won’t do me any good,” Huntsville mayor Claude Doughty told this newspaper.
On Thursday Doughty presented the proposal for the centre to representatives from the prime minister’s office, as well as summit manager Gerald Cossette, who was in town conducting audits on the area’s facilities and services in preparation for the G8 Summit being held at Deerhurst Resort June 25 to 27, 2010.
“Obviously they’re professional at not showing their hand. Their comment was they thought it was complete and thorough and appreciated,” said Doughty of how his presentation went.
The proposal is for a 70,000-square-foot expansion of the centennial centre, comprised primarily of a 100 by 200-foot second arena pad that would serve as the media centre during the summit.
Also included in the proposal are walking bridges across the Muskoka River to the Mountview wastewater plant, a change in road access to the plant itself, additional parking at the plant and a parking structure that would sit alongside Huntsville High School.
The media centre would also be serviced by a fibre-optic communications network, which the town has already been in discussions with Bell Canada about.
Originally presented to council as a $14 million project with the federal government footing 90 per cent of the bill, Doughty wouldn’t get into numbers Friday, saying the town is in negotiations with the feds on who would pay for how much.
He said the project was in “the league of number” of $14 million to $16 million, but that different aspects of it could end up being negotiated out of the final plan.
When asked how optimistic he was that the project would come to fruition, Doughty replied, “50/50.”
“We had some good discussions I can’t share with you in the last day or two about the considerations about where the media centre would be,” said Doughty. “I understand their position; I think they understand mine, ours.”
Doughty said if the media centre wasn’t going to happen in Huntsville it would be “a long way away,” potentially as far as the GTA.
“I know that they’ve thought about it. They think of all options because concurrent with the media is the protests,” he said, adding that the town is proposing to have space arranged for protesters that would allow the media easy access.
Doughty said he feels that the G8 Summit will provide some challenges for local residents and some disruption to normal life, and that getting the media centre/arena pad facility as a legacy would be a fair trade-off.
“We’re going to do a lot of volunteer work and we’re going to support it every way from Sunday (but) they’re talking thousands of security and a lot of people (in town) so it’s going to be challenge (and) obviously we want the media centre here because the media will showcase our community.”
As the town waits for an answer from the summit management office in Ottawa, Doughty said they will continue to work on design drawings for the media centre so that purchase orders and tenders can go out as soon as they’re given the green light.
Source: http://www.huntsvilleforester.com/article/121985