BATTLEFORD — The Town of Battleford heard favourable comments during an open house recently to gather feedback on its plans to renovate and expand the Battleford Arena.
The event took place at the Alex Dillabough Centre on June 17.
Associated Engineering, the consulting engineers on the project, completed the proposed design renderings that were shown at the open house.
Jordan Schechtel, the town's manager of parks and recreation, said there was a positive response to the proposed project.
"We had some good discussions at the open house," he said.
The project will include improvements to the dressing rooms and making the washrooms wheelchair accessible.
Once the project is done, the arena will have seven dressing rooms.
There will also be an add-on for a new referees’ officials' room and a club room.
The lobby area will be opened up to make it more spacious and attractive to visitors. Currently, the lobby is too small.
The project will involve a 5,100-square-foot addition to the arena building.
The town hopes to have more events at the arena when the renovation project is complete.
"It will make a much better user experience," Schechtel said. "We're looking at different ways that we can improve that entrance, to make sure that people understand that it is the proper entrance. It will be nicer. There will also be modifications to the lobby. It will improve the flow to the arena."
More washrooms will also be added.
Schechtel said plans are to start construction in the spring or summer of next year.
The town has already received feedback on the project after meetings with user groups.
The proposed arena expansion concept is based on feedback from Battleford Arena users. User groups continue to be involved in the design process.
The town will also consider responses from a public survey that was available online.
Once public consultations are complete, Associated Engineering will prepare a report summarizing the findings with recommendations on changes for the town to consider. Then, the town will work with Associated Engineering to finalize all plans and begin preparing documents for publicly tendering the project.
Schechtel said it's good to see the project coming together.
"I'm really excited to see it come to fruition," he said. "This is a project that the town has been talking about for over 10 years now. So it's a little bit more real."
