Progress on the Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre

NOV 2008
Larry Lippold, project director with Stadium Consultants International, told council the four di erent options for expanding the Cannifton Road facility range in price from $13 million to $27.7 million. Lippold's company was retained by the city in 2007 to complete a needs assessment on the centre as well as the Memorial Arena and the Dick Ellis Arena.

OCT 2009 APR 2009

Mayor announces the city plans to submit an application to the Building Canada Fund in May for the construction of a community multiplex recreation centre including two ice pads, a community meeting space, a pool, a gym and outdoor recreation facilities, The Intelligencer has learned.

JUNE 2009
City o cial say shovels for Belleville's new multiplex facility should be in the ground by the fall, creating a very ambitious construction timeline. Mark Fluhrer, director of recreation, culture and community services, told council the city was approved to receive two-thirds of the funding for the $35-million project is a rare opportunity.

Representatives of all three levels of government gather at the Quinte Sports Centre for the ground breaking ceremony marking the beginning of construction on the expanded sports centre.

OCT 2011
A funding deadline resulted in a last-minute spending spree for city council as a handful of items were approved for the Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre. City council called a special meeting to deal with tenders surrounding ooring, tness equipment and interior signage. In total, council approved spending $883,979.68 including HST.

FEB 2011
Mark Fluhrer says the facility will open in early fall ice will be in the rinks in June, but the walls and roof for the pool area, for instance, won't even begin until next month. Though the project was initially slated to be "substantially complete" by the end of March, an extension of deadlines by the federal government was welcome news.

AUG 2010
The past few months' hot, humid weather mixed with days of pouring rain has created some minor delays on the $35 million project though o cials remain optimistic the site will be completed by the March 31, 2011 deadline.

JULY 2010
A proposed $5-million solar farm, to be placed on the roof of the expanded Quinte Sports Centre, has been given the go-ahead by the Ontario Power Authority. Mayor Neil Ellis said the city was approved for a system as large as a 499-kilowatt producing plant with the municipality receiving 63.5 cents per kilowatt generated.

*The purchases needed to be approved prior to the end of the month to be included in the funding partnership the city and the provincial and federal governments have entered when it comes to the cost of expanding the Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre.

LINDSAY OUELLETTE/QMI AGENCY