The city will spend $35,000 to have a concept design created for a fourth arena at the Kin Centre following a City of Prince George council meeting discussion on Monday.
The discussion occurred after a group of hockey and other arena user groups petitioned the city to consider building a fourth arena, rather than demolishing and rebuilding the Kin 1 arena to meet Canada Winter Games standards as recommended by city staff.
"We have four years. We have a bit of a window to look at this," Coun. Shari Green said. "Adding this additional arena is an intriguing idea, and we haven't had a discussion about it."
Green said the bid committee never took an in-depth look at building a new arena, and a concept plan and cost analysis will allow for that.
The estimated cost of rebuilding Kin 1 is $16.5 million. City staff put the estimated cost of a new arena at $6.3 million more than replacing Kin 1, because $6.3 million in upgrades would be needed to Kin 1 regardless of new construction.
"This does not mean we're supporting a $6 million increase," Green said. "[But] until we do that cost comparison, we won't know."
Coun. Brian Skakun said the city "owed it to the community" to do the review. Council committed to do the review in February, he added.
Prince George Recreational Hockey League administrator Al Hines said until the analysis is done, there should be no speculation on the cost of a new arena.
"If we're going to spend $16.5 million, let's do it in the best possible way," Hines said. "The critical issue is to figure out what it will cost to build a stand-alone facility. There is no way that it is going to cost as much to build a new facility as it would to demolish the old facility and rebuild."
The city has allocated $1 million to demolish the Prince George Hotel and spent $175,000 demolishing the Columbus Hotel, Hines said. The city's estimate was $180,000 to demolish Kin 1.
There is demand for the new facility, he added.
"The facility will be used," Hines said. "We're at 100 per cent for prime [ice] time and 90 per cent for non-prime times."
Mayor Dan Rogers warned council the issue is not $35,000 for a study, but the millions needed to create a stand-alone facility and repair Kin 1.
"I'd love to afford a new rink... but at the end of the day the money that matters is the $6.3 million on top of what we've already allocated," Rogers said. "There is no money in the bank to do this. Do we all agree to increase taxes, or do we want to increase our debt?"
