More significant renovations are in the works for the aging Pat Stapleton Arena in downtown Sarnia.
Around $120,000 will be used for exterior repair work to the north wall of the 75-year-old building at the corner of Brock and Wellington Streets.
General Manager of Community Services Stacey Forfar said a total of $500,000 is being included in the 2024 capital budget to upgrade the changing room.
"This is a very, very old facility," said Forfar. "It's a beautiful old facility that hasn't seen a ton of investment. We've done some preliminary investigative work in terms of a concept plan for the area and have dug around a little bit."
Forfar said a significant amount of work still has to be completed.
"The mold remediation that we did last year alone was $41,000. To gut this facility and do it properly, we need to advance the exterior work to stop the leaking inside the facility to make it safe and secure that north wall. The interior change room will be a costly project. We do expect it to be anywhere from $500,000 to $700,000, or possibly more, once we can do some further investigative work."
Forfar said a detailed design plan and investigative work would cost a couple hundred thousand dollars.
She said from there, the plans would be brought to council and they would decide how to move forward.
Pat Stapleton Arena has undergone extensive renovations in recent years, including exterior work, new concessions, an updated lobby and entrance and new accessible box office counters.
Sarnia council approved the funding at its meeting on Monday.
They aren't meeting again until September.
