Future Rec Plans Now In Council's Hands

The RM of Hanover has wrapped up its feasibility study concerning the future of recreation facilities in the municipality.

In 2013, the municipality put together a master plan for capital projects. Hanover has been working with Stantec on a feasibility study to get an idea of what these projects look like, what the needs are in their communities and how much it might cost to turn these dreams into reality.

Projects include a new community centre in Blumenort costing $9 million, redevelopment of the Grunthal arena at a cost of $11 million, and renovation and expansion of the Mitchell arena for $9 million.

As part of the feasibility study, an open house was held earlier this month in order to present the ideas to residents and gauge interest. Lisa Baldwin is Manager of Recreation and Community Services for Hanover. She says approximately 40 residents showed up and most of them were from Grunthal.

"Obviously, there's lots of passion in Grunthal and people are wanting to see a new arena happen in that community," notes Baldwin. "The people that attended were very pro, 'let's get this done, we want to do this.'"

Baldwin says Stantec presented the conceptual designs at the open house. She adds they received a lot of feedback on things like site selection, as well as the size and cost of the projects.

Baldwin notes it was great to see 40 people walk through the doors. Yet, at the same time she says with only 40 people coming from a municipality the size of Hanover, it means a lot of residents didn't show. However, she says there are still a lot of decisions to be made and maybe more people will become involved as the process gets deeper.

With the feasibility study now wrapped, the final report will be handed to Hanover council. Baldwin says it will be discussed at Hanover's Strategic Planning Session at the end of April. She adds at this point no deadline has been set by when a decision must be made.