Funding announced in Rockland: Taxpayers will pay $21 million for sports facilities

Canadian taxpayers will be paying $21 million for a sporting event venue and training centre in Rockland.

The project includes two NHL-size ice surfaces, two soccer fields, a baseball diamond and a running track.

The arenas will have 2,500 seats each, meeting and conference facilities, press boxes and therapy rooms.

The centre will be built alongside the Canadian International Hockey Academy (CIHA), which will build dormitories nearby; high-school-age students will pay tuition and residence fees of up to $25,000 a year, with the hopes of pursuing professional careers in the NHL or other leagues.The municipality is guaranteed 70 per cent of the ice time and the CIHA will pay to maintain the arenas.

Champagne and jerseys
The funding announcement for the Sporting Event and Training Centre - such as it is named in the Building Canada press release - was made on July 8.

It ended months of speculation and debate over the CIHA and was made only one week after the project had relocated from Embrun.

Clarence-Rockland’s Chief Administrative Officers, Daniel Gratien, say there is still a lot of unfinished negotiation.

For example, the municipality will be making available 23 acres of land to the CIHA project’s founders. The CIHA will there build facilities including fitness centre for athletes and their dorms at a cost of about $4 million.

Mayor Richard Lalonde said those acres usually cost $55,000 per acre with services, which would mean a total cost of $1.2 million.

However, the municipality has not determined whether it will rent the land or sell it and at what price.

“We have been involved with this case for three weeks, so we have some catching up to do,” said Gratien, referring to the recent switch between Enbrun and Rockland. “There are a lot of details that have yet to be determined.”

Gratien added the municipality will issue a call for tenders as soon as possible, and the municipality hopes the arenas could be built as early as 2010.

 

Pierre Lemieux, Conservative MP for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, said the project would help young people, create jobs and stimulate the local economy.

"This is a great project that will make a real difference," he said. Jean-Marc Lalonde, the Liberal MPP for the riding, said the centre would become one of Canada's destinations for junior hockey. "Amateur hockey has long been one of my greatest passions - it builds character and community," he said.

"This project will create a state-of-the art training facility that will introduce hundreds of young athletes to Canada's national past-time, and help hundreds more take their skills to the next level. This project will also support other recreational past-times in Clarence-Rockland and will create local jobs and other spin-off benefits that will further support the local economy. That's a win-win in my book."

Richard Lalonde, who is the mayor of Clarence-Rockland and the brother of MPP Jean-Marc Lalonde, also said the municipalityUnder Building Canada the centre is being paid in equal thirds, with the federal, provincial and municipal governments supplying $6.8 million each.Rockland mayor Richard Lalonde also said the will be selling 23 acres of land to the CIHA where the project's founders will construct buildings such as a fitness centre for athletes and their dorms at a cost of about $4 million. Mayor Richard Lalonde said those acres usually cost $55,000 per acre with services, which would mean a total cost of $1.2 million.