In February, the Vincent Community Board approved in principle the proposal for IceInline to relocate from its site beside the highway on the town outskirts to beside the pool complex in Molyneux Park, to share a single electricity connection.
The move would allow waste heat from ice-making to be used to help heat the pool.
The board said a due diligence review should be carried out to take a closer look at the plan's risks and benefits.
At that time, Central Otago District Council infrastructure manager Jon Kingsford said the aquatic centre was responsible for 43% of the $479,000 the board spent on electricity in the last financial year.
This week, the Central Lakes Trust said it was giving $45,000 for detailed engineering drawings for the potential new ice complex and shared heating/cooling plant.
Project co-ordinator Trevor Lawrence said the energy cost savings for the council would be significant. IceInline usually has a 90-day season as the facility is open air. The move into a covered facility would extend that season.
The trust has distributed 11 grants worth a total of more than $2.2 million in its latest round of funding this month.
The Wanaka Skate Park has been given $140,000.
That covered 40% of the project cost and the skating area will be more than doubled in size, to 1456sq m.
The extension would ease overcrowding and safety issues to increase the level of ability of users and to widen the user base, Queenstown Lakes District Council arts and events facilitator Jan Maxwell said.
The trust has given the Lakes Hayes Estate Community Association $35,400 to construct a bike track around the perimeter of the sports field. The track will have four sections, for bikes and scooters, beginner cyclists, more advanced cyclists and a race track area.
An extension which will almost double the size of the Alexandra Childcare Centre has been granted $115,000.
The figure covers almost 40% of the project cost. The building in Marslin St will be extended from 104sq m to 184sq m.
• Other grants approved by the trust in July were. -
Alexandra Blossom Festival Committee (festival expenses) $21,000, Central Otago District Council Volunteer Conference $1700, contestable fund for defibrillators in the district $150,000, Lakeside Christian Centre (heat pump) $1500, Remarkable Theatre (production expenses) $5000, The Terrace School (all weather surface for hard courts) $8000, Wakatipu Wilding Conifer Control Group $1.7 million.
