Over a decade ago the Cold Lake Energy Centre was simply a dream, and after 10 years of expanding opportunities, it’s finally become a reality.
Although there are still some areas they would like to see the local recreation centre grow, Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland is proud of what its become.
“Our vision was that it would be a one-stop shop for mom and dad for recreation. With the transit coming there, it’s surpassed our vision. We’re really excited,” Copeland told the Nouvelle. “It’s what we need in the area. We need to have these types of recreational facilities. They don’t make money, recreation is heavily subsidized, and council over the years has been very supportive of recreation in Cold Lake for youth and adults.”
In as early as 2004, the idea for a recreation and education hub was formed, after Imperial Oil donated the land the Energy Centre now calls home.
According to Copeland, “They wanted it to go towards education and recreation.”
“A group of citizens from Cold Lake talked about making a regional hub for the community and utilizing the land, focusing on education and recreation. That was their vision. They brought it forward to council around 2004 or 2005. Council supported that vision, and a group started fundraising for the recreation facility,” he outlined.
The concept was a centre with both a public and Catholic high school, Portage College, a field house, fitness facility, and possibly a hockey arena all under one roof.
Copeland said the economy escalated, “things were busy,” and council had to make the tough decision to put the ice arena on hold.
“In the end, we took the ice arena off the design and moved forward with the project.”
Lakeland Catholic School District decided not to build a high school at the facility at the time, with Northern Lights Public Schools jumping on board.
Portage College also got in on the project, along with the city’s portion of the facility.
As they worked away at planning what would one day be the Cold Lake Energy Centre, the costs of the overall project were only going up.
“I remember the architect coming to council and talking about an escalation of, I think, one or one and a half per cent per month,” Copeland explained. “Over time, council decided to sell the south hockey rink to raise money, and we fundraised really hard.”
Imperial Oil stepped up and contributed funding to what’s now known as the Imperial Oil Place.
The city decided to construct an arena with at least 1,500 seats, in order to accommodate any potential hockey teams and concerts.
“We wanted to have a nice rink to try to encourage Jr. A hockey to come to Cold Lake,” explained Copeland.
The Energy Centre officially broke ground in August 2008.
Once phase one and two were finished, the city got started on phase three, which included the second arena, change rooms, office space, the rock climbing wall, and the outdoor artificial turf field.
“Meanwhile, during all of this time, we’ve put a lot of money into the baseball and soccer fields,” stated Copeland.
The city has also constructed outdoor pickleball courts, with plans to continue to expand the facility.
“The whole area of Imperial Park, roughly $80-million has sunk into that whole site,” Copeland said, adding under 10 per cent of that cost was covered by fundraising, provincial grants, and other contributions.
He noted, funding through ID 349 has allowed the municipality to pay for the bulk of a project that was important to council.
“City council, during my time, has always had a big focus on making sure that facilities, whether it’s the fire hall, FCSS and Parent Link, or the Imperial Park; our recreation facilities are really top notch. We want to attract people to Cold Lake, but we also want them to stay in the area and raise a family,” Copeland said.
This summer, the Energy Centre will be undergoing further renovations to replace the flooring.
Copeland explained, “We’ve had issues with the flooring right from the get-go. The tiles didn’t work out, and the black very shiny surface going into the arena didn’t work out, so we’re replacing it all with the big tiles that the second arena has, that will happen over the summer and change that look.”
The city is hoping the future will see an expansion to Portage College, a Catholic high school, and an aquatics centre.
“We’re going to consider a dome over the artificial sportsfield so we can use that space year-round. That would allow us not to have to build another field house,” Copeland continued.
With the city’s allotment of ID 349 funding decreasing from $26-million to $16-million last year, Copeland said the future of these projects are in jeopardy.
“Cold Lake has to understand the funding model going forward, because the $16-million we’re getting right now isn’t going to make the city sustainable,” he said. “We have to work with the province and the MD to come up with a strategy for the City of Cold Lake.”
After over 10 years of work creating the Energy Centre Cold Lake has today, Copeland is “really happy with how the whole facility has turned out.”
“You need these facilities. They’re vital for the community for people to want to come and stay. These are the types of facilities you have to have,” he added.
