As part of its long-term plan for the outdoor rinks in Fort Frances, the town held a public meeting last Thursday night to get input from what local residents wanted to see.
And after getting some suggestions from three people, Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown is preparing the plan to be submitted to council for its approval in December.
As it stands now, the plan will see the town build standard-size (185’ x 85’) rinks for hockey users at, or near, the current locations of the north end (Sixth Street), central (Robert Moore), east end (Huffman School) and McIrvine (Colonization Road West) rinks.
The first to be done is the North End rink, which the town already has begun on town land just north from the previous Sixth Street rink. This is expected to be ready for use by the end of the year.
All of the rinks will have the same height of boards, high screens at both ends, and level ground surfaces.
The town also will develop smaller non-hockey rink surfaces at those sites (about half the size of the main ones).
The town will replace existing rink shacks with smaller maintenance sheds (12 feet long x eight feet wide x 12 feet high) at the north end and central rinks while upgrading the ones in the east end and at McIrvine.
One shed will be built/upgraded each year, in 2007 through 2010.
The new north end and central shacks will contain the water supply, hydro meter, hose reel and hose, shovels, and scrapers. These won’t be open to the public—just volunteers who tend to the rinks.
Since the rink shacks at the north end and central rinks no longer will be heated for rink users to sit inside, the town instead will attach benches outside the new maintenance sheds so people have a place to sit and put on their skates.
However, due to public demand, the heated rink shacks at the McIrvine and east end rinks will stay open at least until the town can determine how well-received the new outdoor bench set-ups are at the north end and central rinks.
The town also will be shutting down the west end rink on Lillie Avenue, located near the Legion Park, due to the fact it sees very little use each winter.
The cost to upgrade each outdoor rink facility and maintenance shack is estimated at $35,000 (including labour and materials), said Brown.
The decision to make the changes and develop a long-term plan stems from an inspection report completed by Parks and Cemetery staff this past summer, identifying the defective conditions and deficiencies of the five outdoor rinks here.
The study found:
•heated rink shacks are in poor condition and must be addressed in the near future;
•rink sizes and boards vary from rink to rink and should be standardized;
•some rinks have uneven ground beneath them, resulting in operational issues (i.e. more manpower, and water, is needed to put in ice surfaces);
•there’s no rinks for non-hockey users (e.g., parents with small children); and
•there’s no overall long-term development or maintenance plan in place.
< *c>Public input
The meeting at the Civic Centre last Thursday evening was attended by residents Terry Ogden, Wayne Roy, and Ray Tucker.
Also on hand were Brown, Community Services manager George Bell, CAO Mark McCaig, Community Services executive committee members Couns. Tannis Drysdale, Todd Hamilton, and Rick Wiedenhoeft, and mayoral candidate Coun. Roy Avis.
Ogden, a former head coach of the Muskie boys’ hockey team, said he tried to get the town build just one standard-sized outdoor rink for hockey teams to practice on 25 years ago—and was happy to see the town finally heading in that direction with four.
“I’m so pleased. I think it’s really a step forward,” he said during the meeting. “I think you’ll see the teams out there practising.”
Roy, a regular volunteer at the McIrvine rink, said he thought the plan was a good one.
“[The rinks] are important with our town’s hockey tradition,” he remarked. “It really helps to have them.”
But Roy added he’d like to see the heated rink shacks remain open, reasoning if they were closed, fewer people may use them.
“If you leave one rink shack open, make it McIrvine,” he noted. “It’s well-used and we have lots of volunteers helping out there.”
“It’s very noticeable that McIrvine’s well taken care of,” agreed Tucker, adding that although he lives closer to the central rink, he would not take his children to the Robert Moore rink in its current state.
Tucker also said that getting rid of all the heated rink shacks might not be a good move. “Kids need a place to warm up,” he argued.
“The problem with heated shacks is they get destroyed,” noted Bell, adding two of the four shacks (central and north end) are “ready to fall down.”
Brown said the town should move ahead with the north end project this year and see if the outdoor benches dissuade users from going there.
“The appeal is not going to be a heated shack, it’s a quality ice surface,” agreed McCaig. “Let’s put our effort into great ice, great boards, and safety.
“You’re minimizing the work effort when you’re concentrating on rinks, not fixing shacks,” he added.
McCaig explained youths don’t hang out at outdoor rinks to sit in heated shacks, and those that do often are there for “the wrong reasons.”
“The kids are there to play hockey and skate,” he said.
Coun. Wiedenhoeft noted the town will have to talk to the Rainy River District School Board before building new rinks at Robert Moore.
Fort Frances Times
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