Circle Lake residents to get new community centre

Residents in the Lake Heights and Mountainview area of the city got good news on Monday night as North Bay City Council approved the award of a contract in the amount of $237,000 (excluding HST) for the supply and installation of a portable building at Circle Lake.

In 2010, the wooden portion of the Circle Lake Community Centre was condemned and subsequently removed. The community has been without a Community Centre ever since. The existing rink building at Circle Lake has also reached the end of its life span and will have to be demolished to make way for a new facility.

The building, also known as ‘The Shack’, was originally used as a lacing and dressing area for the adjacent ice rink but later hosted dances for local area youths as well as for community events. Throughout the years, the area has seen upgrades from local community involvement groups yet the major structure on the property, well used and aged, requires significant rebuilding to keep the facility operational. With the help of city funding ‘The Shack’ will be rebuilt.

The intent of this project is to provide a Community Centre to house both year round community programming and winter rink operations. Area residents say it's easy to forget the numerous upgrades in this area that once had an open creek /bog that was covered and corrected in the 90's. Previous attempts to build such a structure proved too costly. The geotechnical reports for this area pointed towards high water levels and a significant layer of peat which would expensive to remove for permanent foundations. The present direction is to install a portable building that has previous occupancy status. This new building would incorporate four rooms; a community room, rink room, storage room and an accessible washroom.

Councillor Sean Lawlor says that council has been trying to deal with the situation for a year or two and that the new building will no doubt fill a need within the community.

“It's been a long time coming,” says the Chair of Community Services.

Lawlor also said given the cost associated with constructing a new building with the conditions that exist, a portable seemed to be the most feasible option.

“We're hopeful that that area of the community is going to be able to start to enjoy that facility in the very near future.”

The revitalization of the local community building shows the commitment the city has to the area.