The Pla-Mor Palace could receive some much-needed upgrades to its dressing rooms next year, which would benefit hockey teams that have both male and female players on them.
Addressing that issue is one of three projects the parks and recreation department is proposing in the 2020 budget. Besides updating the change rooms for $109,000, the department also wants to convert the lighting at the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre to LEDs for $80,000 and upgrade the irrigation in the Iron Bridge development for $51,000.
These projects would cost $240,000 and — since the department is facing a funding shortfall — would be on top of the parks and recreation department’s budget of $1,072,995 for 2020.
The parks department presented its proposals during the recent special budget meeting. Council voted 6-1 to table the motions until the official finalization of the budget; Coun. Brian Swanson was opposed.
The department had also proposed to create a parks and recreation master plan for $55,000, but council decided to drop that project.
Council discussion
The lack of change rooms for girls — whether for hockey or figure skating — at Pla-More palace is abysmal, said Mayor Fraser Tolmie. Moose Jaw is losing out on the opportunity to host girls’ hockey tournaments due to the condition of some of its hockey complexes.
Those tournaments would draw money into the community, he continued. Parents would stay in hotels, buy food, spend money in stores and tour the municipality. What he has heard from residents is those tournaments are going to other communities.
“But our facilities are regional. Outside of our borders we have people living around the community (who) use our facilities as well,” Tolmie said. It might be helpful for those rural users to contribute financially as well.
Upgrading the change rooms was in the 2015 budget but was eliminated, said Coun. Heather Eby. It is imperative in today’s society to have proper dressing rooms for people.
“The buildings were built when things were different and things are no longer different,” she said. “This has to happen.”
Eby added that the irrigation situation in Iron Bridge is disappointing, especially since residents pay their taxes to have a green space that is green and not brown.
Background
Pla-More Palace
There are four dressing rooms in each arena, but this causes issues when there are players of both sexes on the same team since there are no additional rooms to which to assign them, explained parks director Derek Blais. A storage area under the bleachers at the Bert Hunt Arena was converted into a female dressing room but does not have benches, ventilation, a washroom or showers.
Previous capital budgets suggested it would cost $400,000 to build a new dressing room attached to the building. The cost was primarily associated with having to expand the building’s heating, plumbing and ventilation units.
Price quotes show a space within the existing building could be renovated to build several 200-square-foot dressing rooms at both ends of the Burt Hunt and Wally Boshcuk arenas. The dressing rooms would include LED light fixtures, baseboard heaters, exhaust fans, showers and vanities, rubber flooring, and benches.
Cultural centre
Today’s lights have progressed to the point where a building’s lighting needs can be met at a much lower cost due to LED technology, Blais said. Since lighting accounts for about 50 per cent of a building’s electricity consumption, annual cost savings of $10,000 to $15,000 are available due to reduced energy consumption.
“This project would also be viewed as a green initiative,” he added.
Iron Bridge
Irrigation was installed only in select areas of the Iron Bridge development, said Blais. It is recommended that the irrigation coverage be expanded so turf can be properly seeded and maintained in the park.
The lack of irrigation has led to continuous weed control issues and has not allowed the turf to properly develop.
The next special budget meeting is Dec. 4.
