Upgrades to the Civic Arena faced an unexpected hurdle last week after a grant application to assist in the rink’s ongoing renovations was denied.
The city had applied for a $100,000 grant from the Columbia Basin Trust to help cover $156,000 worth of work to the 82-year-old arena.
City councillor Val Warmington said last week that work has already been done to replace the Civic’s roof, and the interior has been repainted and cleaned. But money is still needed to cover electrical work.
Warmington said capital funding planned to pay for repointing Touchstones Museum and the Gasworks building will instead go to the Civic.
“We didn’t get the grant from CBT, which left a gap in our funding,” she said. “It just means we’ll have to re-prioritize some things and then apply for grants for other things.”