THOROLD, Ont. — And just like that, the dream is dead. The City of Thorold has decided to close down the James Whyte Arena for good.
“It makes me really, really sad that our kids and our youth don’t have a place to go to learn engage and have a safe place just to congregate in our community,” said Councillor Nella Dekker, during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
As ThoroldToday reported, for the past year City Hall has been trying to figure out what to do with the decommissioned ice hockey arena.
After soliciting proposals from community groups, it was decided that the TCAG, together with the Thorold Soccer Club and the 128 Flying Dragons, would move into the building until 2027 so that the city could come up with a long-term strategy for the facility.
But those plans are officially dead in the water after an inspection has found the building to be too far gone.
Back in 2019, City Hall had the building inspected by McIntosh Perry Consultants who determined that an investment of over $6 million would be required to bring the facility to a “state of good repair”.
Now, an updated inspection has taken place and the news is not good.
“Based on our visual review of the property, we are of the opinion that total cumulative expenditures will be in the range of $2,200,000 in the immediate (2024) and short terms (2025 to 2029) for the building and site to maintain the property in a state of good repair,” the consultants write.
The report concludes that the cost of upgrading the facility to 'a state of good repair' has increased to $7.425 million.
The matter was discussed during last night’s city council meeting, where councillors voiced their disappointment at the negative turn of events.
“I hope [the user groups] understand that spending money on this isn’t really fiscally smart right now,” said Councillor Ken Sentance. “I just didn’t think we’d get that type of report back.”
Councillor Henry D’Angela proposed offering the user groups time slots at the Canada Summer Games facility but Director of Community Services Geoff Holman explained that that could cost the groups money they don't necessarily have.
“What was going to be run at James Whyte was a lot of different programming that really doesn’t fit the mould for that,” agreed Mayor Terry Ugulini.
Holman assured council that the city would still try and work with the user groups to come up with some kind of solution.
Councillor Tim O’Hare said that the report should serve as a wake-up call.
“It’s important that we recognize our municipal buildings that require attention, that need investment,” he said. “We’re slowly losing several of them, simply because they’re being left to fall apart.”
But Mayor Ugulini said that there’s only so much the city can do with its limited budget.
“The thing is we’ve done a lot and we’ve been fiscally prudent,” he said. “There’s a lot of things that we’re doing in this community that are positive. We need to keep chipping away.”
ThoroldToday reached out to the TCAG for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.
North Bay faces a similar decision
In North Bay, longtime resident Bill Antler believes a "false" narrative about the West Ferris Centennial Community Centre's physical condition led the city to pursue the twin pad arena replacement. He is advocating for a public review because the powers that be have decided to put it in a location further from the densest residential and business core of the community, with designs on completing a long-term development instead.
Antler made a proposal that he estimated would cost between $10 million and $ 14 million for the refurbishment of the West Ferris Arena plus $30–$35 million for a new arena and dressing rooms. Plus, there would be an additional cost for the proposed community centre.
"We can't have champagne tastes on a beer budget," said Antler.
West Ferris Arena Background
- December 2015: West Ferris Arena's roof in question
- January 2017: West Ferris arena in better shape than expected?
- September 2017: Arena replacement 'needs to move forward'
- October 2017: Current West Ferris arena location 'not viable'
- January 2019: West Ferris Arena property still a possible option for new rinks
- March 2019: West Ferris Arena shut down
- September 2020: Six figures to keep arena's roof free of snow
In January, a motion to explore the future of West Ferris Centennial Community Arena, located at the Sam Jacks Recreation Complex on Gertrude Street, was referred back to the committee level by the majority of North Bay City Council.
See related: What's next for West Ferris Arena?
"I look forward to discussing the future of West Ferris Arena at committee," Coun. Sara Inch told BayToday then. "I'm relieved that a review of the 2019 engineering reports shows that with repair, the lifespan of this arena can be extended. This is fiscally responsible. Council needs to weigh the costs of repairs versus demolition and building from scratch before moving forward."
