Gatineau’s new city council is currently reconsidering the project. The members are exploring different options and intend to give it a new direction.
The multi-ice complex in the west, as adopted by elected officials under the leadership of Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin in September 2021, was to include four ice rinks and a gymnastics hall. Invoice total? Nearly $103 million.
In the new version, the Bélisle administration still plans to build four ice rinks and, at a minimum, a gymnasium palestra, but different sports spaces such as an indoor soccer field, an athletics track, tennis or tennis courts light (pickleball) and even a community garden could be added to the project.
The planned additions would make the multi-ice complex look more like a sports centre. They would respond to an increasingly pressing demand for sports infrastructure in this sector of the city where population growth is on the rise.
For now, elected officials have not yet determined what infrastructure will be added to the future Plateau complex. They are due to discuss it later in the year.
Land for the future Gatineau multi-ice complex
Photo: Radio-Canada / Hugo Belanger
One thing is certain, they will have heartbreaking choices to make, since the land where the sports complex will be built has a limited capacity. Hence the idea of maximizing the space by constructing the new high-rise building, somewhat like the six-storey sports complex built at the Saint-Roch YMCA in Quebec City.
There’s enormous pressure in the west, it’s not raining land
pointed out the Mayor of Gatineau, France Bélisle, for whom the density of infrastructures is an obvious necessity. The City does not have a huge portfolio of land and the cost to buy it is very high.
” It is our responsibility to do better with what we have and to build high. »
Initially, the multi-ice complex was to be operational sometime in 2027. The new directions would push the schedule back at least a year, to September 2028.
The cost of the new version has not been specified, but it is anticipated that it will be on the rise. Various financing methods will be studied to carry out the project.
The mayoress has already hinted that the City does not intend to pay the bill alone, she is seeking private assistance and even government subsidies. I said it during the election campaign and I’ll say it again: we have an infrastructure deficit, we need to develop it and we won’t be able to do it alone.
Nearly twenty sports were practiced in the Fonderie building in Gatineau, before it closed.
Photo: Radio-Canada
L’ARSO afraid of deadlines
Since the closing of the Foundry, there is not really a place to play sports in the west, points out Richard Gravel, president of the Association régionale de soccer de l’Outaouais (ARSO).
The new improved version of the multi-ice complex gives him hope, but he would have liked to see immediate response to the needs in terms of sports infrastructure.
We don’t want to wait seven years
he said. It is not almsgiving that we want, but simply meeting the needs of our customers.
Richard Gravel, general manager of the Outaouais Regional Soccer Association (archives)
Photo: Radio-Canada / Yasmine Mehdi
The needs are not not just for soccer
he says, but for several sports like baseball, basketball, etc. When the Foundry closed, 18 sports were practiced there. So the needs were there.
” Population growth, especially in the west, requires infrastructure and our expectations are high. »
The Mayor of Gatineau asks him to be patient. I understand that this proposal may lead to additional delay, but the value of what we add is important for citizens who are asking for infrastructure.
In the meantime, she says, the City is trying to find possible solutions, but we are already in deficit, we know that we would need more [d’infrastructures]. So for a little while, you’re going to have to adapt, put some water in your wine, even if I’m aware that it’s not ideal.
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With information from Nathalie Tremblay and Julien David-Pelletier
Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca