Municipal heritage advisory committee chair Hank Smith (left)

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Weekender
Muskoka’s news, delivered to households district-wide
Vol. 14, No. 52
GRAVENHURST EDITION • Friday, April 24, 2009
789-8067
For business news from
around the region, see this
month’s edition of Muskoka
Business ... 29
Pub. Agreement No. 40009759
$1.00 inc. GST
Pool facility
being explored
Federal funding could help with construction, says Klinck
by Allyson Snelling
GRAVENHURST – Mayor John
Klinck has called a special council
meeting for this Tuesday to solicit
public comment on a funding application for a new aquatic facility at
Gravenhurst Centennial Centre.
The meeting will be held in the
Terry Fox Auditorium on April 28
at 7 p.m.
At Tuesday’s council meeting,
Klinck said the meeting follows
ARTIFACT. Municipal heritage advisory committee chair Hank Smith (left) and mayor John Klinck accept a wooden bowl an April 15 announcement by the
crafted from a white pine believed to be more than 8,600 years old. The bowl was made by local wood turner Don Thur of federal and provincial governments
Knots and Burls to Bowls. (Photo by Allyson Snelling)
that funding applications for a variety of programs, including recreation and sport facilities, would be
accepted under the new Building
Canada Fund until May 1.
by Allyson Snelling
Smith at Tuesday’s council meet- IsoTrace Radiocarbon Laboratory,
Projects approved for funding
GRAVENHURST – A post- ing.
where testing began in December require matching contributions
glacial white pine circa 6,631 BC,
In September 2005, during an 2005.
from all three levels of government
which is believed to have originated excavation project at the Beaumont
The resulting determination was in equal thirds.
in the Gravenhurst area, has made family farm in Bracebridge, various the specimen’s life cycle ended in
In an interview Wednesday,
its way back to the municipality in sections of wood were discovered at 6,370 BC by “an unknown cataclys- Klinck said council is seeking comthe shape of a wooden bowl.
a 16-foot depth.
mic event during the recession of ments from the public on whether
Local wood turner Don Thur of
Registered professional forester Glacial Lake Algonquin.”
or not residents want a pool, which
Knots and Burls to Bowls present- Duncan Heyblom identified the
Evidence suggests the tree may comes at a 2009 price of about $5.8
ed the bowl he was anonymously wood as being white pine that have originated in the Gravenhurst million.
commissioned to craft to mayor reached the age of 261 years before area, but glacier and tsunami-like
“I’m hearing from seniors, from
John Klinck and municipal herit- falling. A sample section was deliv- occurrences that started in the mid- people who used to use the Pines
age advisory committee chair Hank ered to the University of Toronto
pool, retired people and young fam CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
Ancient tree made into gift for town
ilies that they want a pool,” he said.
“I’ve also heard from developers
of multi-units that their product is
competitive and our community is
attractive, but they find sometimes
they lose a sale to Bracebridge or
Huntsville or Orillia or Midland.
The issue that seems to come up is
we have no pool.”
A funding application for a swimming pool would work in tandem
with a request to fund the expansion of arena change rooms, which
has been on council’s agenda in
the past.
In December, four preliminary
conceptual drawings for the expansion were presented to council,
ranging in cost from approximately
$3 million, including a second floor
shell for a viewing area and fitness
centre, to $1.5 million excluding the
second floor.
A pool hasn’t been considered
by council since September 2005,
when a decision was made not to
pursue an aquatic facility because
the cost per household would be
too high. At the time, capital costs
were estimated at $5.6 million for
a 25-metre, four-lane pool with a
CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
Weekender: Friday, April 24, 2009 - 16G
Pool idea explored —
CONTINUED FROM FRONT
therapeutic pool. Annual operating costs were
estimated to be above the $200,000 mark.
During council’s previous deliberations on
the subject, there was no funding program
from which to access capital.
Klinck said in recent discussions with
Aecom, the engineering company hired to
complete the arena expansion concept, the
company indicated there is an operating costsaving “interrelationship” between a swimming pool and an arena through “green” initiatives.
A life cycle assessment revealed the arena
would require nearly $3.3 million in agerelated structural and mechanical repairs over
the next 20 years.
“A full eight-lane pool with a therapy pool
and slide with the arena expansion would
cost a total of $10.5 million,” said Klinck. The
age-related repairs required over 20 years at
the arena would be also tied into the redevelopment of the site, with the exception of
the replacement of the plant unit, which is
estimated at $1 million.
The redevelopment would force the relocation of the skatepark.
Klinck said the aquatic facility would include
an interior youth zone with an indoor, yearround skatepark and amenities like a rock
wall, while a fitness centre would be accommodated in the second-floor arena expansion.
He said the town’s property on Church
Street, currently leased by Home Building
Centre, is likely to become available with the
company’s intention to move to Muskoka
Road 169.
“We’d need to clean up the area, demolish
some buildings and put down some asphalt,
but it could be used for more parking and
would serve as another entrance that’s closer
to the downtown,” he said.
Factoring in the cleanup, Klinck rounded
the total project cost to $12 million, twothirds of which could be covered by the upper
level governments if funding were successful.
“If the community continues to give the
indication that it wants this, it means we have
to come up with $4 million to get a brand new
facility,” he said.
Municipality has used less than
50 per cent of borrowing limit
Despite debentures for Muskoka Wharf and
the purchase of the health unit property,
Klinck said the municipality has used less than
50 per cent of its borrowing limit, as its limit
increases every year.
At current interest rates, the municipality
would face payments of $280,000 per year
including interest and principal over 30 years.
“At the meeting we’re going to lay it out
and ask the people what they think. We’ll
say ‘here’s what it’s going to cost us for each
different scenario.’ The treasurer is going to GOING GREEN. Ethan Thomas, Sarah Feaver and Lauren Thomas, students at the Montessori
School of Bracebridge, celebrate Earth Day by learning more about recycling. Students at the school
bring some numbers to show what we’ve bortook part in the activity as part of Earth Day, April 22. (Submitted photo)
rowed so far and what we can borrow.”
Klinck said the stimulus funding available from senior governments is “an unusual
situation” and hasn’t been offered in recreation since the original construction of the CONTINUED FROM FRONT
actual age of 261 years, the date of falling
Centennial Centre in the mid-1970s.
to-north Simcoe County area moved and of 6,370 BC and the date of AD 2,006 are
“The amount of stimulus funds available buried it at its site of discovery in Bracebridge. aggregated to obtain a start-grow time of
from the federal and provincial governments The presence of limestone from Simcoe 8,637 years.
and the deficits they’re going to have with County and acidic soil is believed to have
Smith said his committee would consider
spending it, it may be 25 years before we have preserved the wood.
at its next meeting where the artifact could be
To establish a true age for the tree, the displayed in town.
an opportunity like this again.”
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