City of Penticton applies for up to $6 million in arena funding

PENTICTON – The City of Penticton is wasting no time gathering funds for a new or refurbished arena.

Council approved a staff request to apply for Federal gas tax funding to provide up to $6 million for upgrades or a complete rebuild of the City’s Memorial Arena at the Tuesday, May 23 council meeting. A decision to upgrade or rebuild lies with the Arena Task Force, and is still pending.

Manager of infrastructure Mitch Moroziuk said staff looked at other possible projects to which the funding could be applied, including further Main Street revitalization, Penticton Creek revitalization, and infrastructure replacement, but decided the arena project was best suited for the grant.

He said the Memorial Arena project was most advanced in terms of construction readiness, pointing out the City’s biggest infrastructure deficit was in facilities. He also noted the arena project would allow the City to maximize it’s access to grant money because of the cost and scope of the project.

The report also recommended not applying for more than one capital project, “so as not to dilute our chances for the Memorial arena project.”

Moroziuk said the Arena Task Force had already been consulted and were aware of the proposed application.

Council’s approval of the recommendation also included adding the project to next year’s budget. Once the Task Force makes its recommendation to council, the grant would be amended to reflect the recommendation, Moroziuk said.

The City has until June 1 to make the grant application.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.