New era for Montague fitness facility

It's the beginning of a new era for the Town and Country Aquatics Plus (TCAP) facility in Montague, P.E.I., the latest incarnation of the aquatics and fitness centre.

• T-CAP Centre seeks public help for fitness centre renovations

The board of TCAP has officially taken over the centre which has been under lease to a private business for the last 12 years. Now the group is kicking off a fundraising campaign to help raise $300,000 for planned renovations and upgrades.

"There's a lot of excitement," says Daniel Mitchell, vice president of TCAP Cooperative Limited Aquatics and Family Fitness Centre.

"We get offers of support, we get unsolicited donations, there are offers to paint and repair," he added.

Pool seeking government support

Mitchell is part of a group of members who recently joined the board of directors of TCAP, with the goal of turning the facility's fortunes around.

"This type of facility really can't function without some kind of municipal, provincial or federal support because it's operating a pool and so it's not a money-making entity," explained Mitchell.

"A lot of the maintenance and the upkeep of the facility has degraded over the past 12 years to the point that the tenant could no longer pay an appropriate amount of rent because the expenses for operating were too high."

For five years, the Town of Montague paid TCAP $10,000 each year to use the driveway as an entrance to the Cavendish Farms Wellness Centre. The agreement ended in 2015, and a request for $15,000 from the townwas turned down.

The board, said Mitchell, knew something had to change.

"It came to the decision the arrangement with the tenant not being able to pay rent and us not being able to seek financial assistance because it was a for profit entity, that we would cease our relationship with the tenant and vigorously go after fundraising and seeking municipal, provincial and federal support," explained Mitchell.

The TCAP board is currently in discussions with ACOA, the provincial government and has had some preliminary conversations with the Town of Montague.

Selling shares

With that hurdle out of the way, Mitchell admits there's lots of work to do.

The group is holding a community meeting to launch a campaign to encourage people to purchase shares in the facility. It's a throwback to TCAP's roots in 1996 when local supporters kicked in $100,000 in shares. This time, they're aiming for about $20,000.

Then they're organizing something called "Scrub the Tub", where volunteers are going to spend the next two weeks doing extensive cleaning and renovations to the facility.

There is a big to do list: electrical upgrade, replace the heating system, increase the solar panel system to reduce operating costs and roof repairs. The hot tub doesn't work, the pool circulation system needs to be replaced and the foundation holding up the large slide needs to be repaired.

$119,000 in aerobics and strength equipment is already on order to refurbish the fitness area, with the target ofre-opening the doors on Oct. 15.

"It's our plan to have this facility be the premier wellness facility in Prince Edward Island within five years," said Mitchell.

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