The Huron Shores Optimist Club has decided to pull out of a proposed outdoor ice rink in Plympton-Wyoming due to skyrocketing costs.
President Dean Thomas told Sarnia News Today plans were drawn up about four years ago to partner with the town on a project in Camlachie.
"The initial plans were in the $500,000 range to have some sort of outdoor pad that the kids could skate on," said Thomas. "Fast forward four years, and that pad has turned into something that's way more complex and way more complicated and obviously more costly. The last estimate of the cost was in the $2.2 million to $2.4 million range."
Thomas said they took the updated number back to their board to see what the impacts of the increase would do to the club in terms of fundraising to pay back the money.
"We really identified that because it was such a significant difference, we might end up having some difficulties continuing to support the local clubs and organizations that reach out to us on an annual basis," he said. "There are clubs looking for support with hockey jerseys, or ringette and there are other clubs in our neighbourhood that we like to support. We thought if we had this humungous debt load on the club to repay, that it would affect those things. We wanted to pause and make sure we were working towards the right project and the right scope."
Thomas said the club is still working with the town in hopes of doing something for the kids in the Camlachie area.
"We feel there is a need for something for the kids to benefit from," said Thomas. "We're working toward putting some ideas forward to the town, something in the same area at the Camlachie Community Centre property. Something that's going to be easily attainable by both sides to come up with the funds. As of right now, we certainly don't have anything inked out for a project. We're in the early stages of negotiating a path forward with the town."
Thomas said the Huron Shores Optimist Club wants to be integrated into the town's park master plan so they can work toward the same future goal.
He said they're hoping to meet in the next few months to figure out a concrete path forward.