The plan calls for Kin 1 arena to get the lion's share of funding earmarked for sports facility improvements for the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
The revamped Kin 1 project will cost $16.5 million, by far the largest component of the $19.6 million infrastructure budget to be shared equally by the municipal, provincial and federal governments.
But rather than tearing down and rebuilding an existing facility, city councillor Cameron Stolz would rather see the money used to build a brand new rink.
"Renovating a building that's 30-some years old is one option, but if we're looking at bang for our buck and investing in our infrastructure, a better choice may be building a Kin 4," said Stolz, who first proposed the idea at a city council meeting last month.
"We won the Winter Games and they require an infrastructure improvement, so no matter what, we will be spending money to upgrade the Kin Centre. The question is, are we going to upgrade it by renovating an existing facility or do we want to build a top-notch facility at a slightly higher price that would have greater benefits to the community in the long term, and less disruption."
Stolz pointed to a study that estimated the cost of building a standalone 2,200-seat arena would be $21 million. He said a building that large would have three times more seating capacity than that being planned for the new Kin 1.
"We are a winter city, we host a number of tournaments already, and if we had another high-quality sheet of ice I think there's a huge opportunity to have even bigger events going on from a hockey perspective," Stolz said. " If we're building it as an expansion to the Kin Centre, I think we can bring that price tag down to under $20 million."
Stolz understands there would be increased operating costs associated with a fourth rink. But he said having an additional rink would benefit all user groups clamouring for ice time and a new ice plant would allow for future improvements to the adjacent outdoor ice oval to allow artificial ice.
The new Kin 1 proposal would feature an Olympic-sized ice surface, more dressing rooms, and improved washroom and food service facilities to serve all three rinks at the Kin Centre. Stolz said the Kin Centre could be reconfigured to allow Kin 4 to share those facilities with the other three rinks.
He expects the topic will be debated with council and the yet-to-be-formed Canada Winter Games operating committee in the next few months. Also on the agenda for council is what will become of the Prince George Golf and Curling Club, if or when the golf club shifts to a new facility in the Hart area of the city.
"What happens if they shut down the curling facility?" said Stolz. "Not only would curling be dead from a community perspective but that also effectively kills our Canada Winter Games project because we have to provide ice surfaces for curling.
"If you build a Kin 4 adjacent to the Kin Centre, there's an opportunity there to use Kin 1 for a curling facility, it would allow us to use it for additional ice time as needed and it would allow us to host other major events in the community."
Prince George is expected to raise $9.8 million to cover the $29.8 million operation budget for the Games. The city's input would include an expected $7.1 million in corporate sponsorships, of which 55 per cent will be value-in-kind donations. The Games will bring 3,700 athletes in 20 sports to the city for 20 days in February 2015, with a projected economic impact on the city of between $70 million and $90 million.
Stolz said council will debate in its pre-budget discussions the idea of paying the city's infrastructure costs up front with money collected through a property tax rate increase.
"We would put money aside in advance and that way it would be paid for in full," Stolz said.
"It would be a one-time tax increase of somewhere between two and three per cent. At the end of the five-year period of paying for the infrastructure, most of the tax increase would be removed. The only thing that would be left on the books would be enough to cover any new operating costs. That way we would avoid all interest costs. It's just smart business to do it this way."
