Council unanimously shot down a request from the North Grenville Community Outdoor Rink to support an application for Ontario Trillium Foundation funding. The matter was discussed during Committee of the Whole last night.
Project co-chairs Randy Hopkins and Pastor Ben Last went before council to ask the Municipality of North Grenville to sign off on the $150,000 application, due today. The municipality leases the land from Southgate Community Church, as a project partner, and has to be included in the process.
Municipal staff tabled a report not recommending support for the grant, citing the 10-year Recreation Master Plan currently in the works. Staff suggested future Trillium funding opportunities could be at risk, if the Outdoor Rink was successful in securing the money.
The last time the municipality applied for Trillium funding was 2013 and grants are available annually. When asked what specific projects the municipality intended to apply to Trillium for, staff didn’t have an answer.
The Outdoor Rink had a $50,000 corporate sponsorship lined up, contingent on the Trillium dollars.
The Community Outdoor Rink project is a three-way partnership between the Ottawa Senators Foundation, Southgate and the municipality, established in 2016.
The rink will be free for the entire community to use.Â