(Although this letter was sent to the Whig Standard, it was not published but was posted at the feedback page of the website.

April 11, 2005

I believe there are some anomalies in the Draft Business Plan for the City of Kingston’s LVEC that require clarification and remedy.

First, the total cost of the project is unknown.  It is presently at $37 M plus the cost of the land  purchase at $X million.

Secondly, I thought it strange that the LVEC includes a restaurant.  I thought the idea was to bring business to the downtown core, not to compete with it.

Then carrying on, page 3 makes reference to recreational ice needs as outside the scope of the Business Plan.  This is correct since the LVEC does not assess or address the needs of recreational ice users as a recreational facility. The LVEC has no purpose associated with the dMA Arena Capacity Study Report.  As the Plan suggests, this has been deferred to the Multiplex Community Centre Steering Committee.  The LVEC is recognized as a business and commercial enterprise supporting our OHA Hockey team, entertainment via concerts, trade shows and conferences.  It is primarily a business venture and has little to do with meeting community recreational needs.

Then why does the LVEC Business Plan propose that $3.0 M in funding be allocated, via the Development Charges funding source,  as mentioned on page 53. The City of Kingston’s by-law 2004-256 regarding the fund,  identifies the fund is intended to support only recreational facilities, which the LVEC is not. The DC fund will collect $7.1 M over the next 15 years.  To expect that over 42% of this fund should be ear-marked to the LVEC would be a disservice to our youth, families and elderly who have nothing to gain from the LVEC and everything to lose from not building a modern day recreational and social centre for our community.

In further conflict, there is discussion about Ice Rentals on page 39.  The interesting note here is that the line entry for ice rental revenue in the Plan identifies a yearly cash flow of just under $400,000. The Arena Capacity Study identifies the  Memorial Centre as generating only $230,000 annually.  What was the hourly rental rate and the number of hours per week that the ice surface was expected to be rented? Assuming the Memorial Centre continues to operate the first year that the LVEC opens (and that a Community Centre with multiple ice pads will soon follow) how can the amount of revenue generated by LVEC ice rentals be realistic - recognizing of course that this is not intended as a recreational facility?  Other than the rental of the ice by the Kingston Frontenac OHL Team I  suggest the revenue expected from recreational users should be discounted from the business plan.

Other irregularities-

On page 56 there is the recommendation for $3.3 M from the Municipal Capital Reserve Fund for the LVEC flygrid and catwalk expenditures (why is this mentioned separately?)  This is to be in addition to the cost of land acquisition (which does not have a price identified as yet).  PLUS, the fringe benefit that if the Memorial Centre is repurposed and a multiplex community centre (for instance) eliminates the $600,000 operating and capital deficit, these moneys are to be allocated to the Municipal Capital Reserve Fund.  This means that a new community centre, if located at the Memorial Centre, would  effectively subsidize the commercial enterprise LVEC!

Media hype has buried community support for a  modern day Community Centre.  Kingston needs ice pads and more! The community needs a modern day facility with gyms, indoor fields,a 50 m pool and aquatic park, outdoor ball diamonds, a seniors centre, etc. But it looks as though the one that gets the first piece of the funding pie will get the biggest and the best. In the end, the Community Centre will be nothing more than a multi pad ice centre, the cheapest commodity on the market today.

There is nothing wrong with a commercial venture to provide an OHL and entertainment venue, but let’s not undermine the true interests and needs of the community at the novice, amateur and purely recreational levels. The Business Plan is not acceptable until it can be shown not to limit or diminish the scope of the newly proposed Community Centre which should also be at liberty to increase its projected costs the same way that the LVEC grew from $28 M to $37 M plus. To submit a Business Plan with the above intentions, including soliciting private donations ($2.0 M) and Federal Provincial Government Grants ($8.0 M) without recognizing that the Multiplex facility is in equal or greater need of these funds, identifies a shallow and ill conceived concept of meeting community need.

Patti Arnold

April 11th, 2005
Kingston