By Sheldon Spackman

Ponoka Town Council votes to sell Kinsmen Community Centre to Cash Foods Ltd.

Jun 16, 2018 | 11:02 AM

Ponoka Town Council has voted in favour of selling the Town-owned Kinsmen Community Centre.

The vote was held during a special electronic meeting of Council on Friday morning and according to Mayor Rick Bonnett, they had to act quickly on the offer to purchase as the purchaser was considering another property.

Officials say the building has been sold to Cash Foods Ltd for $480,000 which will now be deposited into the Town’s Development Reserve. The reserve has previously been used to develop part of the Froman Industrial Park to purchase the Hudson’s Green Community Activity Centre quarter section of land and to fund improvements at the Ponoka Airport.

Town officials say Cash Foods intends to renovate the building to accommodate retail store and office space. Cash Foods also owns the IGA Shopping Centre at the south end of 50 Street in downtown Ponoka.

“The reason for selling the Kinsmen Community Centre is because the building has consistently been underutilized and has been posting operating losses for several years,” says Town of Ponoka Mayor Rick Bonnett in a press release. He notes that usage of the building has ranged from 29.86 per cent to 33.7 per cent from 2016 to 2018. A review of the Kinsmen Community Centre operating budget shows the facility has posted annual operating losses ranging from $5,031 to $10,460 from 2016 to 2018.

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“Council has been stating for some time that we want to liquidate properties that are losing money and are underutilized,” adds Bonnett. “Selling the building to Cash Foods will increase the amount of retail activity and usable office space downtown, bringing more people to shop and work in Downtown Ponoka. We received a fair price for the building and the sale will generate new assessment and increased tax income for the Town in 2019.”

Other facilities identified as being able to fill the void of the building’s sale include the Hudson’s Green Community Activity Centre, the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 66, the Stagecoach Saloon on the Stampede grounds, the Calnash Trucking Ag Event Centre, the Moose Hall and various halls operated by churches and service clubs in Ponoka.

“With the new civic building opening this fall on the old hospital site at the north end of 50 Street, there will be a meeting room available for public use on the third floor next to the Town Council Chambers,” points out Bonnett. “The Library has said they will have space available for public use and events in their facility on the main floor of the new building as well.”

The sale of the Kinsmen Community Centre takes effect on January 1, 2019. Existing bookings for the facility will be honoured until December 31, 2018.