[Bedford] BMO 4-Pad Arena | Completed

[Dmajackson]

They don't have the floor plans up really but I remember at one of the meetings they said it would have a food court area and meeting space at least.


HRM Website

[MonctonRad]

Interesting, although there are definite style differences, I can certainly see similarities in design to the Tim Horton's Centre as far as the entranceway layout is concerned.

[hfx_chris]

Most of these are probably canned designes anyway

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by hfx_chris

Most of these are probably canned designes anyway

That would match the gravy they serve on the fries...

[Dmajackson]

Ground-breaking event for new four-pad arena complex

(Wednesday, October 14, 2009) - A long-awaited four-pad arena complex for the Halifax Regional Municipality is poised for construction with the official ground-breaking celebrated today.

“We are pleased to see work begin on this $39 million facility that will address a long-standing need for additional ice surfaces in the region,” said Mayor Peter Kelly. “This arena will be a place for everyone - from hockey lovers of all ages, to children learning to skate, to families enjoying time together on the ice.”

Bedford Councillor Tim Outhit also showed his support for this important new piece of civic infrastructure.

"This is a great day for HRM and a great day for our community. This facility will contribute to the overall health and wellness of our citizens, and will be a centerpiece for sport development and active living for all ages,” he said.

The arena project is funded through Halifax Regional Municipality and will be built to a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver standards. The arena will be fully owned by HRM and operated by Nustadia Recreation Inc.

“We operate facilities much like this one in many Canadian cities and we are delighted to begin a partnership with HRM to operate a top notch facility,” said Nustadia’s Ben Sproule.

Participants in minor sports such as hockey, ringette, figure skating, and sledge hockey will be the true beneficiaries of the new facility, said Bedford Minor Hockey President Todd Watson.

“It's all about the kids. We can't wait to come back here this time next year for our season opening games,” he said. “Today marks a new chapter in our sporting history.”

For more background information on this project visit www.Halifax.ca

[sdm]

Originally Posted by Bedford_DJ

Ground-breaking event for new four-pad arena complex

(Wednesday, October 14, 2009) - .

The arena project is funded through Halifax Regional Municipality and will be built to a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver standards. The arena will be fully owned by HRM and operated by Nustadia Recreation Inc.
[/url]

LEED silver? would be interesting to see how they would achieve such without being the most expensive rink ever.

[Spitfire75]

ignore this

[Dmajackson]

^Spitfire in case you don't know that isn't for the four-pad arena. The one that the article is about is up in Bedford Commons in back of CPA.

[Spitfire75]

My bad.

[Dmajackson]

‘This is well overdue’
Hockey players, community cheer start of new four-pad arena
Halifax News Net
By Yvette d’Entremont – The Weekly News

Dozens of officials, community members and well wishers shivered but kept smiling as a brisk north wind helped usher in the next phase of HRM’s four-pad arena project in Bedford.
An Oct. 14 sod turning ceremony was held at the site, located on Gary Martin Drive just off the Hammonds Plains Road. Despite being denied federal funding, and with a question mark still looming over any provincial contributions, the project is set to go ahead. Regional council has agreed to foot the entire bill if necessary.
Todd Watson, president of the Bedford Minor Hockey Association, told the crowd the four-pad arena, which is expected to open next fall, will have an immediate impact on the ice crunch that has affected local athletes throughout HRM for many years.
“Today we start a new chapter in sports history and from our perspective it’s all about the kids,” Watson said.
A handful of young hockey players who attended the ceremony expressed excitement about the project. Charles P. Allen High School Grade 11 students Matt MacDonald, Davis Gosse and Jeff Arkin said the new facility will definitely impact their lives.
“This is huge. Just being able to be so close for practices and not having to travel all over HRM and the area is going to be amazing,” MacDonald told The Weekly News.
Gosse said in a community that has had access to only one local ice surface, the addition of four more rinks will also free up ice time for athletes beyond the Bedford area.
Their teammate Arkin is most looking forward to better practice times.
“We have so many Bedford minor hockey teams and with more ice surfaces we’ll have more ice times and better ice times because we’ve even had ice times at 10 o’clock at night,” Arkin said. “This is well overdue.”
Bedford’s Coun. Tim Outhit said the long-overdue facility is located at a junction that’s easily accessible from surrounding communities. Outhit and those who spoke at last week’s sod turning ceremony were confident the four-pad arena is being built at the right spot.
“This rink is the right rink, in the right place, being built by the right folks,” he told the crowd last week.
Outhit said he’s pleased it will also include much-needed community and recreational space.
“I hope this is the beginning of a new era for the community that will include more gym facilities, more meeting space, and a new centre for the arts that we’ll hopefully see at the new school,” he said in an interview. “We are a rapidly-growing community here and we really need to prepare for it.”
Mat Whynott, the NDP MLA who represents Hammonds Plains, reiterated his ongoing support for the project but said no funding decision has yet been made by the provincial government.
“When and how the province can support the four-pad complex is up to the various (provincial) departments and discussions with the municipality,” Whynott said.
Kelly Regan, Liberal MLA for Bedford, added to the chorus of voices saying the four-pad arena is desperately needed.
“I’m sure the province will step in soon with some money,” she said. “The absolute need for this is something I heard on the doorstep throughout the (last provincial) election.”
The need for more ice surfaces may not be in dispute. However, members of a volunteer group developing another rink project in Bedford made public their frustration over the four-pad arena’s location after the Hammonds Plains Road site selection was announced in January.
The Rocky Lake Development Association wanted the new four-pad arena complex located at their Rocky Lake site. They recently erected a dome rink there and plan to have an official opening on­ Oct. 30.
Although the HRM four-pad didn’t get federal funding, Conservative MP Peter MacKay last week announced
$1 million in funding for the Rocky Lake group’s Gary Martin Arena “to augment the association’s other recreational infrastructure.”

ydentremont@hfxnews.ca

[bedfordite_93]

Originally Posted by Barrington south

gee what a surprise, that numb nuts Kelly chose his own community for this project, that must be the reason for the behind closed doors tactics. the only time this pasty faced pansy shows any leadership is when he's doing something for his sweet Bedford..No offence DJ...ohh and I agree hfx_chris...4 ice surfaces are not necessary, but if you are going to build 4, why not two in Bedford and two in Dartmouth...?

You have no idea what arenas Bedford Blues players have to play in!! Do any of you who live in the North end realize us Bedford kids have to play our games at Devonshire rink. We have something like 800 kids registered in the Bedford Blues Hockey program. And we are expected to play on one sheet of ice in Bedford?

Plus, when was the last time Bedford got anything from the government? Do you realize, that Bedfordites pay the highest property taxes in the HRM besides downtown Halifax? And our taxes are going into new stuff for people that live in urban Halifax, including Fairview, Clayton Park, Northend, Southend, Rockingham, and the rest of those places. Bedford gets absolutely nothing. If we want to go swimming in any months besides August, we have to go to Sackville. We need this. Plus, Bedford is getting a new high school in the next 3 years. It's going to be bigger than Citadel High.

STOP COMPLAINING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dmajackson]

Originally Posted by bedfordite_93

You have no idea what arenas Bedford Blues players have to play in!! Do any of you who live in the North end realize us Bedford kids have to play our games at Devonshire rink. We have something like 800 kids registered in the Bedford Blues Hockey program. And we are expected to play on one sheet of ice in Bedford?

Plus, when was the last time Bedford got anything from the government? Do you realize, that Bedfordites pay the highest property taxes in the HRM besides downtown Halifax? And our taxes are going into new stuff for people that live in urban Halifax, including Fairview, Clayton Park, Northend, Southend, Rockingham, and the rest of those places. Bedford gets absolutely nothing. If we want to go swimming in any months besides August, we have to go to Sackville. We need this. Plus, Bedford is getting a new high school in the next 3 years. It's going to be bigger than Citadel High.

STOP COMPLAINING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree with all of that. The rink is very deserved and unfortunately jealously seems to overtake other Haligonians when something gets built outside of their community.

One thing to note is the new high school is going to be built just down the street so the rink will see a lot of use by kids kind of like CPa is already planning to use the new dome for student-teacher hockey games every week.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by bedfordite_93

Plus, when was the last time Bedford got anything from the government? Do you realize, that Bedfordites pay the highest property taxes in the HRM besides downtown Halifax? And our taxes are going into new stuff for people that live in urban Halifax, including Fairview, Clayton Park, Northend, Southend, Rockingham, and the rest of those places. Bedford gets absolutely nothing.

That's what happens when you live in a socialistic country and municipality. Make the rich pay, that's what they all say...

[beyeas]

Originally Posted by bedfordite_93

You have no idea what arenas Bedford Blues players have to play in!! Do any of you who live in the North end realize us Bedford kids have to play our games at Devonshire rink. We have something like 800 kids registered in the Bedford Blues Hockey program. And we are expected to play on one sheet of ice in Bedford?

Plus, when was the last time Bedford got anything from the government? Do you realize, that Bedfordites pay the highest property taxes in the HRM besides downtown Halifax? And our taxes are going into new stuff for people that live in urban Halifax, including Fairview, Clayton Park, Northend, Southend, Rockingham, and the rest of those places. Bedford gets absolutely nothing. If we want to go swimming in any months besides August, we have to go to Sackville. We need this. Plus, Bedford is getting a new high school in the next 3 years. It's going to be bigger than Citadel High.

STOP COMPLAINING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please tell me what this magical new infrastructure is that the city has bought me here in the southend?

I am so #$%@ing sick of hearing complaints like this. All people seem to want is "I want to pay less property taxes, oh and by the way I want more spending in my area".

There is no question that Bedford deserves more, but maybe you should just articulate that rather than attacking other areas. The south end of Halifax has received one major infrastructure project in the past decades (Citadel High). I promise you that there has been FAR more money going into the cost of running water and sewerage and roads etc to sprawling rural subdivisions than there has to the southend.

I pay a lot of property taxes, even though my water/sewerage lines date from 1920 (which is pretty new for parts of the SE), and there has been no new public pools. gyms etc since the '60s, and I am fine with that. I have no issue with my tax dollars getting spread around. I am sick and f'ing tired of people seeming to think that a) they should have more services for less taxes and b) that their tax dollars should somehow only come back to them.

That is not to say that the division of spending is great... it absolutely has its issues. But I am sick of the tired old argument of people pointing fingers at how the peninsula somehow gets everything, when in fact the peninsula is in decay. I sure these same complainers wouldn't like it if I were to say that I don't want my tax money going to build new transit lines and pumping stations so that you can live in your 1 acre lot in the suburbs.

So tell me... what public infrastructure has been built in the last 20 years in the southend using your property tax dollars?

[MonctonRad]

Interesting catfight developing here..........

Outside observer comment: The larger the geographic size of a municipality, the more likely you will have regional infighting and bickering.

issues like this however can arise in geographically smaller communities as well. When they built the Tim Horton's Four Ice Centre here in Moncton, the east end of the city felt slighted so the council felt pressured to rebuild the Kay Arena and include a new Crossman Community Centre in the Lewisville area to appease the tax payers. Meanwhile, the northwest end feels left out of the infrastructure spending spree. This will be allayed somewhat when they build the new arena at Crandall University.

It's the same all over.

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by beyeas

Please tell me what this magical new infrastructure is that the city has bought me here in the southend?

I am so #$%@ing sick of hearing complaints like this. All people seem to want is "I want to pay less property taxes, oh and by the way I want more spending in my area".

There is no question that Bedford deserves more, but maybe you should just articulate that rather than attacking other areas. The south end of Halifax has received one major infrastructure project in the past decades (Citadel High). I promise you that there has been FAR more money going into the cost of running water and sewerage and roads etc to sprawling rural subdivisions than there has to the southend.

I pay a lot of property taxes, even though my water/sewerage lines date from 1920 (which is pretty new for parts of the SE), and there has been no new public pools. gyms etc since the '60s, and I am fine with that. I have no issue with my tax dollars getting spread around. I am sick and f'ing tired of people seeming to think that a) they should have more services for less taxes and b) that their tax dollars should somehow only come back to them.

That is not to say that the division of spending is great... it absolutely has its issues. But I am sick of the tired old argument of people pointing fingers at how the peninsula somehow gets everything, when in fact the peninsula is in decay. I sure these same complainers wouldn't like it if I were to say that I don't want my tax money going to build new transit lines and pumping stations so that you can live in your 1 acre lot in the suburbs.

So tell me... what public infrastructure has been built in the last 20 years in the southend using your property tax dollars?

Good points.

One thing to note is that the communities that aren't peninsular Halifax, downtown Dartmouth are all based around the car. This alone indicates that having all of these infrastructure projects (aside from schools) really means that people are just driving lesser distances. Everybody still has to drive everywhere for the most part from these areas... so why don't we just build these projects on the periphery of major communities. (I.E. build a big rink in northern Clayton Park so that everybody can access it from mainland Halifax and Bedford). I can walk everywhere I need to where I live.

I have lived on the boarder of the south and west end for the greater part of my life and have seen nothing in the way of public spending around here. Hell, parts of Citadel were fundraised! The property taxes in my area are higher than in Bedford where people have big houses on larger lots. Plus, there are simply more people living in peninsular Halifax.

Honestly, I believe that this rink is good for Bedford, but there are wayyy more important public infrastructure projects. Not everybody plays hockey and it doesn't contribute to our economic environment as much as other things such as a proper transportation network do/would.

Bedfordite... I grew up playing hockey at Devonshire when it was metal fencing instead of glass... so don't try to attack me for not being a hockey player or knowing what it is like not to get ice time. You don't hear me complaining that Halifax doesn't have a Cole Harbour Centre. Why don't you go swimming in a beautiful lake in your area... that is why people choose to live out there... not city ammenities. The lake swimming season is about 3-4 months.

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Interesting catfight developing here..........

Outside observer comment: The larger the geographic size of a municipality, the more likely you will have regional infighting and bickering.

issues like this however can arise in geographically smaller communities as well. When they built the Tim Horton's Four Ice Centre here in Moncton, the east end of the city felt slighted so the council felt pressured to rebuild the Kay Arena and include a new Crossman Community Centre in the Lewisville area to appease the tax payers. Meanwhile, the northwest end feels left out of the infrastructure spending spree. This will be allayed somewhat when they build the new arena at Crandall University.

It's the same all over.

The big problem is that all of this spending should be put into a couple landmark developments that are centralized so that this whole bickering issue is averted. Nobody can complain about world class facilities being in their city as compared to the placement of these little community projects.

[beyeas]

Originally Posted by worldlyhaligonian

The big problem is that all of this spending should be put into a couple landmark developments that are centralized so that this whole bickering issue is averted. Nobody can complain about world class facilities being in their city as compared to the placement of these little community projects.

I totally agree.

The new library is really the 1st major city project in the downtown/southend... and I already hear people complaining about how that is just money that is not going to their area. As far as I can tell people would rather have a dozen shit libraries than a central landmark one. People have already been using this project as an "example" of how the downtown apparently gets "everything".

That is not to say that there is not infrastructure needs in other areas (there is) and it is not to say that I think everything needs to be in one central location (it doesnt... they do need to be, as worldly said, in hub type locations through the city).

[spaustin]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Interesting catfight developing here..........

Outside observer comment: The larger the geographic size of a municipality, the more likely you will have regional infighting and bickering.

It's the same all over.

Yep and amalgamation has made it a 100 times worse in Halifax. I fear the new tax reform, if it ever gets through will only add more fuel to the fire. The tax reform proposal is to move to a system of paying for service. Sounds great on paper, but it will only entrench the attitude of "I don't use that so why should I pay for it?" I live Downtown and walk to work and have no children, should I therefore not have to pay for roads or schools? It's a ridiculous argument of course, but that's where we're heading in terms of attitude. The reason we should pay for these things is because we're one city and because, at least the rink and library, are bigger than the immediate areas they're being built in. I say it's great that Bedford's getting a new rink and that we're going to get a new library. Halifax outgrew the old library long ago and from what I hear there is a real ice shortage in HRM, especially since the Community College rink in Dartmouth became unavailable. I just wish we could go about making these necessary decisions without so much acrimony and bitterness. We might be one municipality, but we don't act like it. Our parochial knee-jerk reactions only hold us back. Makes me wonder if we should abandon amalgamation altogether. Then no one will be able to say that I'm subsidizing the people in X, but I'm not getting anything in my community.

[hfx_chris]

Originally Posted by spaustin

Makes me wonder if we should abandon amalgamation altogether.

I believe this would be the best thing...but I doubt I would ever see it happen.