Chris Lowrey
SHAWVILLE May 23, 2018
The municipality of Shawville has established a 12-person working committee to explore options for getting the town a new arena – one that would bear the name Bryan Murray Arena.
The committee is made up of several local politicians and volunteers. Among them is Pontiac MP Will Amos.
Shawville Mayor Sandra Murray made it clear that Amos is not sitting on the committee as a politician, but rather because of his experience, bringing a new arena to Chelsea a few years ago.
Although the process is in the early stages, the municipality has explored possible locations.
One of them is behind Dr. S.E. McDowell Elementary school on a tract of land that is currently owned by Loblaws.
The land in question was sold to Loblaws Companies Limited by the municipality for a sum of $600,000.
Last year, Loblaws was contacted by the municipality to see if the company would be willing to give the town a portion of land to alleviate issues associated with plowing a private driveway.
But Loblaws rejected the offer saying the company wanted fair market value for the land.
Murray said Loblaws initially quoted Shawville a price of $3 million for the land, but the two sides are looking into other options.
Another location that could work is the Armstrong Heritage Farm just outside of town.
The farm land was given to the municipality for free under the stipulation that it be used for recreational purposes.
However, this location isn’t the best option because of the fact that it sits on the outskirts of town.
“We want to bring people into town when they come,” Murray said.
Murray also said the municipality has several options in terms of grants that can be obtained to help offset costs.
The first step is to get the project a charitable status, which will facilitate donations from the public.
But she stressed that the millions of dollars required to build a new arena was simply too much for the municipality to shoulder on its own.
Although a total cost of a new arena is not yet known, it will be expensive.
The current Shawville arena is in need of upgrades as the refrigeration system’s chiller has broken down and will cost upwards of $100,000 to fix by the fall.
