Feature Article
RED DEER WELCOMES OPENING OF COLLICUTT CENTRE: 2001
Written By: Michael Dawe
Published By: Red Deer Advocate Centennial Book
Article Used with permission. © Copyright Michael Dawe and the Red Deer Advocate, 2007
2007-01-01
; "Red Deer welcomes opening of Collicutt Centre")
On June 15, 2001, the Collicutt Centre officially opened.
More than 6,000 people turned out for the festivities and to tour the new facilities, which the official publicity described as "world class."
The building was indeed impressive.
It was more than 23,000 square metres in size.
It included an NHL-sized ice arena, wave pool and water slide, gymnastics area, fitness centre, and a huge field house for indoor soccer, basketball, volleyball and tennis.
There was a 290-metre, four-lane running track on the upper level.
The main concourse was laid out as a streetscape with food kiosks, retail stores and services.
The range of activities available at the new Centre was so extensive that Mayor Gail Surkan referred to it as "Red Deer’s new village green."
Plans for the new recreational facility had been in the works for many years.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, much of Red Deer’s growth had occurred on the north side, so much so that by 1981, approximately 40 per cent of the city’s population lived north of the river.
The G.H. Dawe Community Centre had been built to provide recreational, educational and community services for that part of the city.
In the late 1980s and in the 1990s, much of the new growth in the city had shifted to the southeastern section of the city.
While the G.H. Dawe Centre included a public school, Catholic school and recreational facility in one complex, it was decided to have a large new public high school and a Catholic high school built on the eastside of 30th Avenue, south of 32nd Street, with a new stand-alone recreational centre between the two schools.
Hunting Hills High School opened in 1994 and Notre Dame opened in 1996.
Attention then turned to what was initially referred to as the East Hill Recreation Facility and later East Hill Leisure and Wellness Centre.
As the public consultation process proceeded, it was determined that the complex should include an arena, to help alleviate the continuing shortage of indoor ice, and. an indoor soccer field to accommodate the huge increase m local interest in that sport.
A major gymnastics facility would also be included.
In one controversial move, it was decided to construct a leisure pool rather than a full-sized swimming pool.
It was felt that the city was already well served with its existing three indoor and one outdoor public pools.
The leisure pool was later changed to a wave pool as it was thought that this would make it more popular.
Initial cost estimates were set at $22.4 million. With a number of changes, including the wave pool, this was raised to $24.7 million.
As the project proceeded, the cost soon jumped another $5 million to nearly $30 million, some people began to grumble about cost overruns.
The city actively solicited corporate sponsorships and named many parts of the facility after the major donors.
In March 2000, it was announced that the facility as a whole would be named the Collicutt Centre, after local entrepreneur Steve Collicutt and his wife Lorna, who had made a gift of more than $1 million to the project.
"Your Community Common" was added as a sub-name to the complex.
The centre proved tremendously popular, attracting more than 700,000 users in its first year.
However, there were some significant glitches.
The pool had to be closed for several weeks due to high bacteria levels. A $464 000 ozone machine had to be added to correct the problem.
A huge public controversy hit in the late fall of 2001 when it was revealed that construction of the complex had actually hit $31.6 million, well above the previously announced figure.
Worse, instead of a budgeted $372,000 operating deficit, new figures showed that the deficit had actually hit $1.37 million. Strong allegations of poor financial management and unauthorized expenditures were made.
City officials agreed that there had been an underestimation of costs and an overly optimistic prediction of income
The temporary closure of the pool for several weeks during hot summer weather had added to the problem.
A special blue-ribbon citizens committee was appointed to provide an independent investigation into the issue.
It found that capital costs had all been properly authorized.
A number of budget controls were put into place by the city’s administration, including reducing some services and hours of operation at the centre.
Eventually, the financial crisis was resolved. Use of the centre continued to rise until it exceeded 900,000.
Moreover, publicity about Red Deer consistently identified the Collicutt Centre as one of the landmark attractions of the community.
Red Deer had a new community centre about which it was increasingly proud.
This article was written by Michael Dawe for the Red Deer Advocate’s Centennial Book. The Heritage Community Foundation would like to thank Michael Dawe and the Red Deer Advocate for permission to reprint these materials online. Please visit the Red Deer Advocate online.The images in the article are part of the collection of the Red Deer Archives. Please visit them online.