RANKIN INLET
It looks as if Rankin Inlet is finally going to get its long-awaited new arena. Preliminary plans of the new facility were unveiled during a special meeting of hamlet council on March 14.

Rankin Inlet SAO Justin Merritt said he was quite impressed with the plans he saw for a new local arena during a special meeting of hamlet council. - NNSL file photo

The meeting was led by senior municipal planning officer Erin Mentink and facility planner Glenn William of the Capital Projects Division.

Hamlet senior administrative officer Justin Merritt said the new structure will be solely a hockey arena, and will not house a curling rink nor a community hall.

He said with hamlet council approving the preliminary design, the project can now move to the next step.

The next step for Community and Government Services (C&GS) is to get the technical drawings done for the project to go out to proposal," said Merritt.

"Once a company gets the contract and completes the technical drawings, C&GS will bring them back for hamlet council's approval.

"At that point, if everything's still OK, it will go out to public tender for construction.

"We're looking at, as I understand it, the groundwork being started in 2017 and the arena being completed in time for the 2018-19 season."

Merritt said hopefully the price will be in line with what C&GS expects when the project goes to tender.

He said the entire project has a budget of $25 million.

"The drawings we saw looked very nice.

"Depending on where they locate the ice plant, we'll have between 900 to 940 seats in the bleachers and another 157 seats in a fully-heated, glassed-in area.

"We're looking at a seating capacity of 1,050 to 1,100, which will make it the biggest arena in Nunavut.

"The temperature in the bleachers will be around 0 to 1 C."

The new arena is set to be built on a large lot of land behind Kivalliq Hall, resting between the Kivalliq Regional Health Centre and a large lot of the Kivalliq Inuit Association's behind the current arena.

There will be room on both sides of the new arena for expansion, and one wall can be removed and built upon for future development.

Merritt said he's not sure what may happen if the project goes over its budget.

He said that decision would rest with the Government of Nunavut.

"Hamlet council will probably begin discussing what it plans to do with the old facility sometime this fall.

"A new community hall is still in our short-term integrated community sustainability (ICS) plans for infrastructure we need.

"The ICS plans are broken into three levels, with short term being the next five years, then five-to-10 years, and 10-to-25 years.

"C&GS developed the program about five years ago and we go through it every year to update and resubmit it."

Merritt said the new arena will not have curling ice, which council will take into consideration before deciding the fate of the old arena.

He said council will have to look at a number of issues before making its final decision.

"We'll be very happy if we can get another two years out of our ice plant to keep the old arena running.

"It was estimated to last about 10 years and it's in its 16th year of operation now.

"We work hard to keep it going, but I don't think it will be feasible to keep it going in the future.

"Curling may have to look at using natural ice or maybe we could look at the feasibility of getting a thermosyphon system installed at the old arena."

Merritt said four big dressing rooms should be ample for the many tournaments Rankin hosts. He said there is space for a second floor in the facility but it won't be utilized right out of the gate.

"They're going to build it so you can add a second floor, but they don't have the money for it right now.

"So maybe in four or five years if we raise enough money, we can move the offices upstairs and have more viewing area below.

"They're going to do this so we address all technical and council issues before the arena is actually built."

Merritt said although the new building is primarily a hockey arena, it does hold the promise of being a multi-use facility.

He said the building will not sit idle during the summer months.

"The ice area itself will have a concrete floor, which we can cover after hockey season and play soccer or host other events.

"We can shut down on April 10, give it two weeks to thaw out, then our heavy equipment can go in and push the ice right out through the Zamboni room.

"Then we'll let it dry for a couple of days and put down the turf.

"So we'd be able to hold the trade show in the new arena and, possibly, music concerts in the summer with 1,000-person seating."

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