The City of Prince Albert will be taking expressions of interest from groups interested in taking over the Dave G. Steuart Arena. (Susan McNeil/paNOW Staff)

By Susan McNeil

Arena plan

City to accept expressions of interest on Steuart Arena

Feb 4, 2025 | 2:58 PM

Before making a final decision on what it will do with the Dave Steuart Arena, the City of Prince Albert will accepted formal expressions of interest from other parties.

Council moved forward with that option after discussion at their Feb. 3 meeting where they were also given a letter from the Prince Albert Grand Council saying they would be interested in the building as well.

“Hearing a lot of the verbal commitments and interest in the future of this facility, we took some of that information back following the budget process and are recommending that a formal expression of interest be issued,” said Director of Parks, Recreation and Culture Jody Boulet.

Prince Albert Minor Hockey has stated they would like to see the rink remain open for use, the Exhibition Association has expressed interest and now the PAGC wrote a letter saying they would like to use it to house their Sports and Recreation Department.

It would take staff a couple weeks to prepare the guidelines for the expressions of interest, issue it through the purchasing manager and forward the same documents to those who have already expressed interest.

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Parties interested would be asked to share their presentation directly with council, likely around the end of April. Presenting directly would give council the chance to ask any questions right then and there.

After staff had a chance to examine all the information, a recommendation would be brought back to the table for council to vote on, which Boulet hoped to have happen at the end of June.

Council is not committed to choosing any of the options.

Coun. Daniel Brown (Ward 1) has been vocal in previous meetings about his wish for the city to keep the arena as a functioning ice surface and reiterated that stance.

He also asked if staff could get updated numbers to fix the roof, the main issue with the building.

Brown said his rough calculations put the roof at 30,000 square feet and would take $117,000 in plywood plus about $42,000 in shingles.

He questioned the existing estimate of over $500,000 to repair the roof and also suggested that tinning it would cost about $360,000.

“I’m still going to fight to keep this rink a viable option for this city. I’m looking forward to hearing from PA Minor Hockey and the other user groups that use that rink. I do think it’s vital to hockey and kids in these residences,” he said.

Part of the expressions of interest would be having each group outline how they plan to use the building. That could mean groups that skate there now still have access.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: @susanmcneil.bsky.social