Stadium receives $1 million from province for repairs

TRURO - Truro Mayor Bill Mills said there is one topic he has “probably” been asked about more than any other over the last six months – the Colchester Legion Stadium.

Out of commission since Hurricane Fiona caused major damage last September, the Stadium has sat vacant all fall and winter while many area hockey teams and other groups who relied on the Stadium, traveled to arenas outside the immediate area and grabbed whatever hours they could, for ice times.

The Province of Nova Scotia provided a boost towards getting the Stadium back on its feet when they announced on Thursday (March 16), they were contributing $1 million to fund repairs.

“Thanks to this funding, the Stadium will, once again, serve as a place for us to come together, building community spirit and promoting physically active lifestyles,” said Truro-bible Hill-millbrook-salmon River MLA Dave Ritcey. “I’m very much looking forward to seeing the facility reopen in the near future.”

Ritcey said it was one of the first places Premier Tim Houston visited when he surveyed Fiona’s damage in Truro and surrounding area in the aftermath of last September’s devastation.

“We had a great chat and Mayor Mills really sold it that this, the Stadium, is a very important fixture in the community, so we wanted to support the town on this infrastructure in any way we could,” Ritcey said while joining Mills and Town of Truro Chief Administrative Officer Mike Dolter at the Lorne Street facility following the announcement.

“When I received the call yesterday, to say I was delighted would be an understatement,” Mills said regarding the funding help. “From day one, our position was we were going to get it fixed. I just wanted to make sure anyone I talked to over the last six months that I reiterated, whatever it took, we were going get this place fixed.”

Mills said town officials already knew how important the facility was, but its importance was really driven home by user groups and other citizens since it has been out of commission.

“We understood that but I think the comments that we’ve heard, the input from the public, really drove it home,” Mills said.

Dolter said they hope is it’s ready for 2023-24 hockey season but that depends on the availability of contractors and a final assessment of all that has to be done.

“The biggest challenge with the Stadium right now is we're still waiting for information and the finalization of the work from our underwriter and the insurer,” he said. “It has been delayed, so it has been frustrating but, right now, with COVID and lack of contractors (available) that has been the biggest challenge.

“We hope the work is going to be getting underway soon, we get all the estimates, (information) on what we need, and then we can proceed. This money is going to be helpful to do a lot of the other work, over and above what we have to do as far as our insurance claim. There's a lot of work that has to be done to the Stadium just in general, to modernize it, so that's a big part of it too.”

Dolter said the work begins with the roof and then dealing with a lot of the water damage inside.

“So there's a lot of removal of material, removal of insulation and all that's got to be replaced.

“Again, as we go, we're going to be assessing things too because there are things under the walls that we don't necessarily know about yet until we get in there. That's what the estimates were trying to get right now is, and then there's infrastructure inside as well that have to be changed, cleaned and improved.”

Dolter said they’ll also have to make sure the ice plant, sitting idle since September, would be ready to go as well.

Ritcey said there are a lot of memories in the building and talked about the recent 25th anniversary of the Truro TSN Bearcats Allan Cup victory which took place on the Stadium’s ice in April of 1998.

“A lot of history so it was really important to advocate on behalf of the community,” he said. “And it’s also about giving back to the kids and having more ice in their community to promote healthy and active lifestyles. It’s an important fixture in our community and an important investment from the province.”