After almost seven years of delay, it appears Greater Sudbury will soon have a dome-covered sports facility that operates year-round.
Meeting on Tuesday, trustees with the Rainbow District School Board agreed to draw $2 million from a reserve fund for the Lasalle Secondary School Multi-Use Sports Facility.
Education director Norm Blaseg said the school will own the $4.1-million facility, which is being built with the Fabio Belli Foundation. The dome will be a scaled-back version of the facility at Lasalle announced in April 2018, when the province announced it would provide $4 million for the project, and Greater Sudbury was asked to provide $2.2 million for road upgrades and $750,000 for a new field house, with the Rainbow board providing $1.1 million to pay for the artificial turf.
But when the Liberals were booted from office last June, the Foundation learned that the incoming Progressive Conservative government cancelled the $4 million. Greater Sudbury also withdrew funding.
But last month, the Foundation announced the project was back on track. Board member Dr. Dennis Reich said they had finalized plans to build a smaller dome at Lasalle at a total cost of $4.1 million.
“We basically reduced the size the dome from 100,000 square feet down to 56,000 square feet,” Reich said in March. “What that meant was that we lost the running track and a little bit of bleacher space.
“We have the funding, we have the financing, we have the donations in place — and we have the right partner with Rainbow School Board.”
At its Tuesday meeting, Trustee Dena Morrison said 1,200 students at Lasalle will be able to take advantage of the dome, as well as other public schools.
“I happily support this,” Morrison said.
But Trustee Anita Gibson had a few questions. She wondered how long the artificial turf and the dome's fabric covering would last, who would pay to replace it and who would fund operating costs.
She was told the board is responsible for replacing and maintaining both the turf and the dome, since they will own the facility. Revenues from evening rentals, when the board isn't using it, should cover operating costs.
Gibson was also concerned some schools won't be able to afford to go on field trips to use the dome, and wondered whether all schools had the money to pay for them.
“I'm hoping everyone can make use of this,” Gibson said.
Blaseg said each school gets funds for field trips, and have discretion on how they use it. Most trips now are to Science North, and schools themselves decide how often they go.
“We give them the freedom to allocate those funds,” he said. “There are no restrictions.”
He's also not aware of a case where school didn't have the funds they needed for a field trip, but they have the option of raising the money themselves if necessary.
“Schools can also fundraise if they wish,” Blaseg said.
The Lasalle Secondary dome will operate under a similar agreement as the facility to be built this spring at Sacre Coeur school on Notre Dame Avenue. The $3.1 million facility will be owned by the French Catholic school board, which will use it for students during the day. It will have two artificial turf fields and will be in operation 12 months a year.
It will be owned by the school board, which will have rights to the facility during school hours. The Sudbury District Sports Club, which is using a $3 million private donation to fund construction, will have access to it after school, and will charge $150 an hour for groups that want to rent it.
