The municipality of the Township of Potton officially inaugurated a new service building at the Missisquoi River North Park - Andrée Gagnon sector - after receiving $750,000 in funding from the Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED) through its Canadian Community Revitalization Fund (CCRF). 

The new service building is a part of a larger project to develop the Missisquoi River North Park. The project started around three years ago with the construction of a new multipurpose shelter that now serves as a refrigerated ice hockey rink in the winter and a public market in the summer, something that citizens have been asking for three decades, according to Mayor Bruno Côté. Over the last couple of years, the park has grown to include a deck hockey surface, a splash-pad for children, and updated basketball courts.

Struggling to retain its population in recent years, the municipality wanted to reinvest in the community by creating a space with a variety of offerings and where neighbours, friends, and families can come together again following the pandemic. The new service building is one of the last major steps in bringing the development project full circle. The service building provides citizens with the bathrooms, changing rooms, and showers needed for them to enjoy the park, and a garage that will allow the municipality’s Zamboni to be stored on-location rather than across the street. As of today, the service building is open to the general public and the municipality hopes that all Townshippers will have the chance to discover the park.

“Every village living along the border will say the same thing. In the past, we’ve had difficulty to bring a population and to keep them here. I think that the municipality here saw a future that maybe others didn’t see,” said Côté. “We wanted to get the infrastructures ready for what was coming. We wanted to be able to invite people in our community, keep them, and provide them with the services that they deserve. This is the image that we had, that we thought of years ago, and it’s near completion. It’s great to see.” 

Côté explained that the idea to develop the Missisquoi River North Park was top of mind for previous town councils. He said that it started with the outdated skating rink in 2020 and the project grew from there.

“To replace it, it was half-a-million dollars back then, but we have employees that are always looking at what’s available in terms of money from the government. They found this program where we could [partner up] with the government of Quebec and not only rebuild the surface, but have a roof that had been desired here for more than 30 years. So we took the jump,” he highlighted. “Our employees told us 'no, we won’t have enough time to prepare the project, and submit it to the government'. I am a part of the council that said 'no, we will help you and we will do this together. It’s happening, let’s jump in'. We did it. Then we saw that beautiful structure, which is the multipurpose shelter, go up. Once it was up and we started building the bands, assembling them to build the skating rink, it was beautiful. Everybody was happy and more people were coming out.”

The following year, the municipality had a surplus in its budget and it decided to invest in refrigeration for the ice rink and additional infrastructures, like a splash-pad. According to Côté, it is the additions to the park and the challenges that the municipality is experiencing with maintaining the ice rink that encouraged it to update the existing service building. 

“To prepare the ice to a certain standard of what the population wanted, we need ice-making machines, the Zamboni. Here in Potton, the Zamboni was parked at the municipal garage on the other side of the provincial road. So to get here, our employees had to go there, take the Zamboni, cross the provincial road in the salt and everything, come here to wash it, fill it up, then make the ice, and then go back without the machine icing up,” he explained. “Those challenges led us to think that okay, the building that we need to accommodate and service the park needs to be bigger and better. Once again, another government decided to help us with it with $750,000 and this is the completion of that step now.”

Alexandra Leclerc, project manager for the development of Missisquoi River North Park, described the service building as “outdated” and “too small” for what the municipality wanted to offer to citizens. She said the building required bigger changing rooms, renovated bathrooms, and new showers. A ramp was also added to the building to make it accessible to those living with a physical disability. 

“There’s the super popular splash-pad and this new building will offer a place to change for people using the splash-pad. There’s a new deck hockey rink, we’ve improved the tennis court, we’ve improved the [basketball court], these are a few of the improvements here made in the park. This new building really adds to the already very popular multifunctional shelter that we have,” mentioned Leclerc. It’s also multifunctional. "In the changing rooms we planned for them to be made separable with a [divider] that can be removed. So we can use one part for changing rooms and one part for another use. There is one that can be used as an entire community room to host activities for the community. There is also a kitchenette.”

Leclerc added that she hopes the new service building will be just as “beloved” as the multifunctional shelter and that it helps fulfill the municipality’s goals for the park.

“I guess it’s already happening what we wanted. If you come here for a Saturday morning for example, there is the market going on under the shelter and this will give you an example of what the municipal council wanted the park to become. (…) This is a place that the population and people around can be happy, feel relaxed, and be a part of the community,” she emphasized. 

Pascale St-Onge, Member of Parliament for Brome-Missisquoi and and Minister responsible for CED, said that the new service building is one of the “great” projects that emerged from the CCRF. 

“The purpose of the fund was to help communities come back from Covid and recreate public spaces that everybody could share, reconnect, socialize, and do all kinds of physical activities,” she explained. “Also, the space is adapted for people that mobility challenges. It’s important to make sure that the spaces that we’re creating are appropriate for everyone whether kids, seniors, or people with disabilities so that everyone can use it. So it’s a great project.”

I’m proud of the municipality, added St-Onge, for taking on such a large project on its own and “thinking a lot about serving the entire community and the diversity of communities that live here.”

“It shouldn’t be the federal government that tells the municipality to do this and this, but really build from what people want and the consultation they’re having with their population. I know that this park here that they want to make it accessible to everyone,” she noted. 

Listen to the full interview below: