Debate over ice rink’s future important, even during summer

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/08/2023 (1132 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s rare when a City of Brandon open house event garners a large public turnout, particularly in the middle of summer.

While we wish this was not always the case, it takes a rather large event or hot button topic to mobilize people to show up and speak up about whatever plan may have been placed before the public consciousness by their elected officials and city administrators.

Last week Wednesday was, seemingly, one of those times when the public sentiment was strong enough to draw people out of their summer revery to have a say in the future of the Sportsplex arena. And of the four options presented to members of the public, the overwhelming sentiment was very clear — spend the cash to renovate the city-owned ice rink for the organized and recreational skating and hockey clubs who want to use it.

“I’m really concerned that we’re going to lose the only rink that the city looks after,” said Bruce Stephens who showed up at the Sportsplex last Wednesday for the city’s open house. “My granddaughter played in a Monday night informal recreational hockey league that’s been going for 26 years, and now they have no place to play.”

“I have four grandchildren, and there’s nowhere for them to go for public skating,” added Joanne Soder, who carried a small sign on a stick that read “Keep the ice!!” while she read the information provided. “All the rest of the rinks seem to really concentrate on hockey.”

Of course, there was some limited support for the other options presented, including replacing the rink with an indoor turf surface; replacing it with a hard court surface; or replacing it with a hybrid hard court/indoor turf setup.

Wilman Cuadros, who visited the open house with his wife Marta and son Eric, identified themselves as immigrants who “love soccer,” and supported the idea of an indoor soccer turf because there are no facilities for the winter in Brandon.

“We need to go to Winnipeg for our kids to play in tournaments,” he said.

We happen to agree that this city could certainly use an indoor soccer pitch as well – something that has been bandied about for a few decades now what with the growth of the immigrant population in Brandon from many countries that value soccer as their game of choice.

There are some hard choices to be made here, particularly when it comes to what the Sportsplex will evolve to be over the next several decades.

As MNP manager Ian Frank told the Sun, this process is about finding out what Brandon needs the Sportsplex to be for the generations yet to come. And when the public has a chance to speak – and then chooses to do so – these voices should be recognized.

Just over halfway through the open house, city staff estimated that at least 140 people had attended the event — certainly there would have been more by the end of the session. One staff member said they’d seen earlier in the week that the online survey relating to Sportsplex renovations (brandon.ca/recreation-assessment) had already received more than 1,300 responses. The survey ends tomorrow, so if you still haven’t waded in with your opinion, we suggest that you do.

As we reported last month, city staff said a repair of the current ice plant would cost roughly $350,000 and would allow it to run until September 2025. That’s because the plant currently operates under an exemption from the province (which expires in September 2025) as it does not meet current standards. Should the city pursue a full replacement of the plant, the cost is estimated to be more than $1 million.

The city-hired consultants will be seeing what the business case is for each of the options that has been presented. That includes diving into what the renovations would cost and how much the new facilities would be to staff and maintain.

They’re also looking into how much use each of the options would be projected to get as well as potential advertising opportunities and the revenue balance between offering space more as rentals for teams and leagues versus community programming.

There is also a need for the Sportsplex building to be more accessible for people with disabilities by including better ramps and railings at the front and bigger and better changerooms and bathrooms, among other amenities. Last week, City manager Ron Bowles noted that city council approved $3 million in borrowing for accessibility upgrades at the Sportsplex in its 2022 budget deliberations, but those funds have yet to be spent.

So there are some decisions to be made by our elected officials — none of them cheap, and none of them easy. And it’s important, too, that the city give due consideration to changing recreational needs of its citizens. For that reason, we’re glad to see that the City of Brandon has taken seriously its role to allow public opinion a voice in the future of the Sportsplex. And we’re glad to see that many of our city residents have taken the opportunity available to them.

We maintain, however, that whatever decision city council makes, it should be a permanent fix rather than a temporary one. Kicking the bill down the road for another council to address will just end up costing the city more in the long run.

Certainly they should have enough public opinions to guide them.