Water way to go for $6 million.

A four-way partnership between the City of Greater Sudbury and three local organizations is seeking to create a $6 million facility on the shores of Lake Ramsey to support the explosive growth of water sports.

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The Sudbury Canoe Club, Sudbury Rowing Club, and Sudbury Dragonboat Festival, in conjunction with the city, are working in tandem to develop the Northern Aquatic Centre, a new 16,000-square-foot facility on Ramsey Lake Road.

"The programming and services of the stakeholders are all limited by the existing facility," says Daniel Kaltiainen, director of the project's feasibility study.

"The summer's not over yet, and anybody who wants to take some of the kids' programs have got to sign up for next year. The competitive programs have also taken up again, and we're helping to put people on the national and international stage, so we need the extra space."

As an example of the growing need, Kaltiainen says the Sudbury Canoe Club's membership has grown from 100 to nearly 450 in a few short years. Youth programming and training has become so popular as to require waiting lists, and the Sudbury Rowing Club's numbers have grown similarly, he says. This has led to a packed-to-capacity environment shared by all four project stakeholders at the current site on Elizabeth Street.

The expansive new facility would be owned and operated by the city, and would represent a marked improvement over the current 6,000-square-foot space, Kaltiainen says.

As designed by local firm Nicholls Yallowega Belanger Architects, the facility would be shaped like an overturned boat, with the lower level allowing for boat storage and an expansion of various training programs. The upper level would be used for meeting rooms and office space.

As the city makes use of the current site's washroom and change facilities during the winter as part of its annual winter skating program, it is also expected this component will be expanded at the new facility.

"People need to be trained and tested locally, so there's going to be more areas for that including, expanded meeting areas. For the most part, it's going to be more storage to accommodate growth and programming."

The project also proposes the development of a regulation 1,000-metre race course to allow for local, national and international paddling and rowing events.

The proposed facility is being labeled as an "aquatic centre of excellence," and while Kaltiainen admits that this type of branding is overused and abused, he says it's applicable in this case given the level of knowledge and assistance present in the city.

In recent years, project stakeholders have already leveraged their experience to help Temiskaming Shores and Timmins to develop dragonboat festivals, and to assist many Northern communities to achieve coaching certification.

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City council has already given its approval to the project following the completion of the multiple-year feasibility study and public consultation, leaving the organizers to begin a detailed design phase. That step will continue through the fall, when stakeholders return to council to seek $500,000 in funding from its annual budget. Additional funding support is also being sought from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund as well as FedNor.

If financial support requests proceed as planned, Kaltiainen expects the detailed design documents to be produced within the next six to nine months, with an eye to potentially breaking ground within the year.

Given that the Dragonboat Festival alone has raised over $1 million for local charities in its eight years as well as untold spin-off for local business, Kaltiainen says any funding would practically pay itself off in time.

Organizers hope the proposed building would be built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, meaning it will feature a variety of energy-saving and environmental components, though exact details have yet to be determined.

Kaltiainen says this kind of energy conservation and green leadership is a key component of the facility, given its connection to the local environment, Lake Ramsey and Bell Park.

"I think it's pretty important given that it's going to be inside Bell Park, which is the crown jewel of Sudbury's park facilities. I don't think we can do anything less in that parkland, and it has to be a good-quality building, because the city and the citizens would expect no less."

A variety of other factors are currently being examined for further stages of development. These include the possibility and potential cost of extending the famed Bell Park Boardwalk further down the southern edge of the lake to provide more public accessibility to the centre and encourage visits. Some consideration is also being given to extend a trail system from Laurentian University to the site.

www.canoeclub.sudbury.on.ca

www.sudburyrowingclub.ca

www.sudburydragonboats.org

By NICK STEWART

Northern Ontario Business