A Waterloo Region private school is looking for an exemption to build a hockey rink.

St. John’s-Kilmarnock School has plans to build a state-of-the-art facility, but wants a $265,000 construction charge waived to do so.

The school says the entire project will be built with private money, with the caveat that the development charges be waived.

The 42,000 square foot athletic facility will be on the school’s campus in Breslau but will be open to the public, with a focus for girls’ and youth hockey.

“In short, this project is good for our youth,” says Leanne Dietrich, the school’s athletic director.

The project is set to receive a $7 million donation from Gordon Schembri, of Schembri Property Management. That donation has one large string attached.

“Our donor, and we concur with him, doesn’t feel that he should have to pay $265,000 to allow him to make a $7 million donation,” the delegation told regional council.

Woolwich Township has already waived its municipal charge of $88,000, but the waiving of the development charges has never been done on the regional level. If it does happen, officials say that money will have to come from somewhere: taxpayers.

“It seems to me that you were ill-advised to ask for a waiving of the fees,” Coun. Tom Galloway told the delegation. “So I’m curious as to why you’re asking for that as opposed to some other way we could support you.”

St. John’s-Kilmarnock School is a non-for-profit school. A donation can be claimed as a tax credit but a development charge to a municipality is not.

Regional council will revisit the issue on May 8.