The update on the 2013 Multi-Use Recreational Feasibility Study (MURF) is recommending that the new arena, to replace the West Ferris arena, feature a double pad. but it could be another three years before a skate cuts the ice.
The report by Monteith Brown Planning Consultants states that based on the current usage profile, currently there is a need for 4.8 ice pads.
“North Bay has sufficient and sustained demand to support a fifth indoor ice pad, now and into the foreseeable future….therefore the City should consider building two new ice pads and decommission the West Ferris Arena.”
The report indicates that since the MURF study in 2013, new population information including census data, and new ice user trends need to be considered.
“North Bay’s arenas are very well used, with a system-wide usage rate of 94% during primetime hours. This rate is indicative of a system that is operating at capacity.”
Community service chair Johanne Brousseau says the recommendation for a double pad hasn’t changed over the past six years.
“The MURF update includes many meetings with ice users, with public meetings. The MURF update confirms that a double pad is still required, as recommended in the original report from 2013,” explained Brousseau.
The report goes on to say prime time ice usage for competitive and youth groups has increased by eight hours per week, which is impacting other user groups.
“What we did find out is that, yes, the population has changed, but the users demand on ice time has increased because when the first study was done, the Battalion weren’t here yet. What the Battalion has done has increased the level of hockey that is being played in North Bay,” said Brousseau.
“So there are a lot of AAA teams, and they require more hours of practice per week. There’s the Nipissing Lakers women’s hockey team, and now there’s the Canadore women’s hockey team. And the Ice Boltz, which if they were there before, they weren’t as strong as they are today.”
Brousseau says the demand for ice time has left teams looking outside the community.
“We realize how many of these teams go outside the city, a 45-minute drive for practices, and they can’t even do it in their own community, and they also can’t host tournaments because they don’t have the facility to do that because the ice surface is too small.”
The report itself does not recommend a site location for the new double pad.
“Staff will prepare a supplemental report to council next Tuesday, April 16. The report will lay out the next steps that will be taken immediately to determine the location of the double pad, and the architectural engineering design for tender purposes,” said Brousseau.
Ideally, the community services chair would like to see West Ferris remain open during the construction phase.
If that is not the case, ice users will have to deal with a 25 per cent reduction in ice availability.
“So everybody will be scrambling to go out of town to get some ice time, and that is not a good scenario. We don’t want to be there, or see 24-hour ice usage of the other three rinks,” said Brousseau.
“I’m expecting at the end of this month the engineering report on the roof, and if that report tells us the roof is good for another year, we’re going to keep asking for annual extensions. If all the dominos line up, ideally one day one shuts down, and the next day the other opens.”
The life expectancy of the Pete Palangio arena is also in question.
“Double rinks we’re pampering and trying to keep it going by just maintaining it for the next 10 years if we can because ideally, you would want a good flow. They were built within seven years of each other, so that wasn’t good planning. But you didn’t think of it back then.”
The city has a budget of $30 million in mind for the new build.
The report suggests the financial plan give some consideration to “fundraising, infrastructure funding by senior levels of government and partnerships, in addition to municipal contributions.”
The report does not indicate where the new build should go, although the Steve Omishchl Sports Complex and North Bay Memorial Gardens are the two sites being considered.
North Bay Mayor Al McDonald has gone on record saying his personal preference is the Gardens, with a design element to quickly turn it into a to a 1,000 seat convention centre.
Consultant Steve Langois, of Monteith Brown Planning Consultants will present his updated data at the special meeting of council next Tuesday.
The community services chair estimates construction will start in the spring or summer in 2020.
“I say worse scenario from the start of shovels in the ground, three years later we’ll be skating,” said Brousseau.
