Saint John-Rothesay MP Wayne Long joins Hampton Mayor Robert "Dewey" Doucet and Hampton MLA Gary Crossman for a funding announcement on August 5th, 2021.
More than $15-million in government funding was announced on Thursday morning for the new Hampton Regional Multipurpose Facility.
The 66,700 square foot facility will be built on a 30-acre section of land owned by the town in the William Bell Drive Business Park.
It will include an ice surface, walking track, community room space, lounge and canteen.
Hampton Mayor Robert “Dewey” Doucet said a committee was formed in 2009 to look at replacing the town’s 44-year-old arena.
He adds they did their homework researching what is currently available in the region.
“The mayor at the time, myself as the deputy mayor, our town manager, our leisure services director took off a few Saturday mornings in a row at 5 o’clock in the morning and visited other facilities that were recently built and met with the managers and their workers and said, ‘what’s the good and what’s the bad about this rink?'” Doucet said.
Mayor Doucet said the current arena was built in 1976 will have to last a couple more years before the new facility opens.
“We’ve been ‘band aiding’ it for quite a while now. It’s really well used but, it’s getting so old inside that we have issues with pipes breaking and walls and the floor moves quite a bit,” Doucet said.
The Local Service Districts of Upham, Hampton, Norton and part of Springfield voted five years to financially support the project through their property taxes.
When completed, the Hampton Regional Multipurpose Facility will serve about 1400 users a week.
Mayor Doucet said tenders will be issued soon for the architectural and engineering drawings which could take a year to complete.
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