LINKLETTER – The federal government along with the province are contributing more than $70,000 for internal and external improvements to the Linkletter Community Centre.
community council chairman, David Linkletter, said the money will be used for flooring repairs, better insulation, improved parking, upgrades to the exhaust system, plus the purchase of a new commercial-grade dishwasher and a generator.
“We had a bit of a problem with the floor that was put in originally,” he said. “It wasn’t screwed down properly… The nails in the floor in the hall were coming up and poking holes in the tile. The tiles were cracked. There was some issue with the construction part of it.”
One of the biggest aspects of the improvement work will be happening outside with the creation of more accessible parking.
The centre is built on a hill so the basement of the building could be accessed from ground level and all of the parking was at or near the bottom of the hill, noted Linkletter.
“That was the reason why we put her up in the air,” he said. “But we do realize that we need some more accessible parking at the upper level. That’s one of the major things, to change that to make it a more accessible entrance. There will be a new entrance going on it. The steps will be reconstructed.”
Soundproofing is another issue that is going to be addressed.
“It was hard to have two things going on at the same time in the building,” said Linkletter. “The noise carries over to the other level. We are going to insulate between the two floors and retile the hall area.”
A generator will also be installed.
“Whenever there is a power failure that will start up automatically,” he said. “We always intended the centre to be what is considered a warning centre. With the generator being added it will complete that. We have propane gas stoves in for that reason.”
The centre would then provide a place for area residents to go in case of a prolonged power outage.
The federal government, through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, is investing $45,298 from the Community Infrastructure Improvement Fund. The province will contribute $26,120 under the Island Community Fund.
For more on this story see Tuesday's edition of the Journal Pioneer.
