Gatineau approves deal to replace Robert Guertin arena

By a 12-5 tally, Gatineaucity councillorsvoted Wednesday to replace the aging Robert Guertin arena with a brand new 4,000 seat, multi-use complex, to be built on city land in theeast end.

In addition to being the new home of the Gatineau Olympiques junior hockey team, the complex will have three community ice rinks, which the city will rent for a minimum of 7,700 hours per year for the next 25 years.

"I'm extremely happy. I think we've done something good," said Gatineau mayorMaximePedneaud-Jobin, flanked by Gatineau Olympiques president Alain Sear, and Vision Multisports Outaouais(VMSO) president Alain Sanscartier.

VMSO is anot-for-profit which will build and operate the complex for 25 years.

Pedneaud-Jobin said Wednesday's vote ends years of uncertainty over, not only thearena in downtown Hull, but also the future of the junior hockey team.

"There's still work to be done, but it's a very important step to save theOlympiquesand the taxpayers," said Pedneaud-Jobin.

'It's going tokill our downtown initiations'

The location of the new complex proved controversial for some councillors, who argued that moving an important sporting and culturalcentre out of the downtown area goes against the city's revitalization plan.

The site chosen for the new arena is a parcel of city owned land on Boulevard de la Cit, near Boulevard Maloney Ouest. It's surrounded by a combination of big box stores, commercial buildingsand large city facilities, including La Maison de la cultureand the Centre Sportif.

SylvieGoneau, the councillorfor Bellevueand a candidate for mayor in the upcoming municipal election in November, also took issue with how the project was sole sourced to VMSO.

"We're going ahead with a project saying it's the best cost when we haven't gone out to tender or to bid, and we're saying that it's going to be good for the city, when it's going tokill our downtown initiations," said Goneau.

Supporters however argued most of the actual design and construction work will be tendered by VMSO, and that the existing Robert Guertinarena site will eventually be developed.

"We cannot do everything in one square kilometrearound city hall," said Pedneaud-Jobin. "We have to think about other parts of the city, and as a whole for the city, I think we scored today."

The total bill for the project would be $79 million, with VMSO paying $16 million, the city of Gatineau contributing $36.5 million and the province of Quebec providing $26 million.

Those costs wouldn't include an additional $25 million needed to construct a six-storey parking garage and make infrastructure improvements to nearby sidewalks and streets, costs that would be borne by the city.

To meet the needs of the future complex, it is expected that 1,560 parking spaces would be neededin the area.