A potential new UE location:
Doors closing at the Civic
Repurposing report due in December
Oct 10, 2006
By Jillian Follert at
DurhamRegion.COM OSHAWA -- It's out with the old and in with the new, as staff prepare to shut down the Civic Auditorium arena to make way for the new downtown General Motors Centre.
The Civic will temporarily close its doors after the new arena opens Nov. 3. Council has requested a re-purposing study for the 42-year-old facility and a report is expected in December.
"It's really up in the air right now," said Mary Creighton, the City's director of recreation and culture services. "We put a request for proposals (RFP) out to the community and we will have a report in December that outlines our options. Until we have direction, it will remain closed."
Several sports and recreation groups have asked for permission to use the Civic in the meantime, but City officials say the cost of keeping the facility open and staffed, would be prohibitive.
Pam McCracken is treasurer of the Whitby Roller Skating Club, which has been bounced around to several venues in recent months. The club used to skate at Wheelies, then Coachlite Roller Garden, then the Donovan Recreation Complex while the ice was out this summer.
Now they are heading to Kingsway College. The space there is small, but it's all they can find.
"We can't find a permanent home anywhere and we lose people because we keep moving around," she said. "We're down to about a dozen kids. Back when we were at Wheelies we had between one and 200."
The roller skating club is willing to pay $40,000 annually for 13 hours a week -- Ms. McCracken said if other groups pay similar rates, it would be enough to keep the Civic open.
However, Councillor Cathy Clarke, who chairs the community services committee, said the annual cost of running the Civic is close to $2 million.
"We're trying to make sure we're not wasting operational dollars," she said. "We're not going to have two large arenas open at the same time."
Coun. Clarke noted it might be possible to open the Civic for a specific event -- if it was large enough to offset the cost.
In the meantime, groups hoping for floor space will have to keep looking elsewhere.
Staff and councillors won't speculate on the future role of the Civic, except to say it will likely remain recreational.
