A short while ago I wrote an article about ‘The Little Township That Could’ and our success in receiving a grant in excess of $9.4 million to rebuild our arena and community centre. Well it seems that the ‘flurry’ of construction activity in our Township isn’t over yet! With the work for the new arena and community centre under way, the demolition of our old school to make way for the new one, and plans to construct a new library in Woodview, the community of North Kawartha has been successful not once but twice in the latest rounds of infrastructure funding grants.
Council has been following the budget categories from both the Federal and Provincial levels of Government and applied for 4 infrastructure projects through the Canada Build program. On Friday June 5, 2009 the grants were announced and North Kawartha received approval for all 4 grant requests.
The projects are as follows:
- $400,000 for an expansion of the Wilson Park fire hall in Woodview
- $880,000 for a new library in Apsley
- $950,000 for new works garage in Apsley
- $3,390,000 for the reconstruction of Anstruther Lake Road
The total of the 4 projects is $5.63 million and tenders will be going out ASAP.
The Township also submitted an application to the Recreation Infrastructure Canada (RINC) Program for just over $1 million to assist with the completion of the new community centre. Due to budget constraints, some items were eliminated from the current contract. With this latest grant we are able to complete the arena and include the full fitness centre, heat recovery system, proper signage etc.
Council’s commitment to source out any and all grants for our infrastructure needs will enable us to achieve many of the goals identified in our strategic plan sooner perhaps than we had planned on or dared hope for. Our success in being awarded these funds also means that North Kawartha can achieve these goals without burdening the property tax base with all the construction costs. Once again I am bursting with joy over our success.
“If you believe you can, you probably can. If you believe you won’t, you most assuredly won’t. Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad.”
Dennis Watley