A major expansion of the Memorial Sports Centre in Fort Frances is in the works.
An application for funding from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund has advanced to a second stage.
The project includes a new pool, larger change rooms, a newer family and accessible changeroom and expanded cardio and weight rooms.
It’s estimated to cost nearly $5-million.
The town’s Recreation and Culture Manager Aaron Bisson admits overall operating costs will increase a bit.
“The benefits to our current members, the community and new individuals that we’re going to attract with this project far outway the projected roughly 2% increase to the expenses at the MSC,” says Bisson.
Bisson notes the difference between renovating the existing pool to building a new one is that much.
“The renovation costs we figure to just fix the old pool was about $750,000. doing the new pools is about $1.2 million. one and a quarter. So it’s only about $500,000 more to actually have a new pool,” says Bisson.
The town is also exploring other grants for the project.
If everything comes through, the town’s share would be about half-a-million dollars.
“If there was something (that) happened where they didn’t supply the amount of money that we’re expecting to get from them, then at that point council could decide not to pursue the project, not to move forward,” says Bisson.
