At the Castlegar city council meeting in February, we were informed that the decision to close the Pioneer Arena could be reconsidered for the 2024/25 operating season if funding was not received for the apartment and doctor's offices projects.  We received some good news about this yesterday, which you can read at the link below.

https://www.castlegarnews.com/local-news/mayor-disappointed-castlegar-wasnt-awarded-housing-grant

The city states that this funding was not connected to the Pioneer Arena project, but the Nov. 6, 2023 city council report provided at the link below directly contradicts this statement.

Pages from Regular_Agenda_November-6-2023

On page 2 of this document, it states that the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) funding would be used to pay for the demolition of the Pioneer and the old Eremenko buildings.  The next funding that hopefully is not awarded is from the BC Housing Community Housing Fund (CHF).