In the Committee of the Whole meeting with council on Sept. 3, the report of an outdoor skating rink was received by council.
The report was prepared by the Director of Community Services, Terry Foran.
“Outdoor skating rinks within the Bradford community have a limited history, in comparison to what has taken place in other locations such as Bond Head, where an outdoor rink existed in the early 1970's,” read the report.
The outdoor rinks at Bud Brown Park in Bond Head used to be maintained entirely by volunteers.
In recent years, town staff have gradually taken over.
“It’s hard to maintain volunteers,” said Coun. Mark Contois. “Staff have taken it over and done a great thing with it.”
He suggested taking the same staff-driven approach to establishing additional outdoor skating rinks in BWG.
“I think these outdoor rinks are of value to our community,” said Contois, suggesting that leaving it to volunteers could “set this up to fail.”
It took about 250 hours of staff time to maintain the Bond Head Rinks this past winter, noted Deputy Mayor James Leduc. “Who’s going to volunteer to do that?” Leduc called for consideration of outdoor rinks at three locations – Lions Park, the Bradford Memorial Community Centre and Bud Brown Park – although he suggested, “I believe they need to have chillers under them.”
An $8,000 item is proposed in the budget for an outdoor rink at Lions Park, Leduc said. “I think a lot of residents would enjoy that.”
He asked if outdoor rinks are in the Recreation Master Plan.
“An artificial skating trail… is on our wish list,” said Foran. He noted that in Bond Head, the rinks are created on the existing concrete pads. There is no such pad at Lions Park, which means that it is not ideal for an outdoor rink. Instead, there would be a liner put in place.
“We can drop boards and a liner in there. We found this to be a good opportunity to make it work,” he said.
Councillors approved the location, but questioned the effectiveness of the plan.
“Lions park is underused. To me it’s the perfect location,” said Coun. Gary Baynes.
Coun. Peter Dykie agreed, but warned, “Our weather is changing. With underground pipes we could weather the changing weather.”
“As someone who played a lot of ‘canal hockey’,” said Coun. Gary Lamb – in those days, skaters could rely on cold weather that froze the canals and ponds. “We really have a narrow weather window now.” He warned that without a concrete pad or some kind of ponding surface “the water flows away.”
He suggested $8,000 isn’t enough.
Lamb said, “Just saying that the weather is changing and this is going to be a problem.” All the same, he said, “I’m going to vote for it, and I hope it works… It’s a crap shoot. Winters aren’t getting colder.”
The rink at Lions park would be set up just east of the Lions building, where the outdoor pool used to be. Boards and a liner would be tried for the initial project, said Foran. “If this is a success further investment can go into it. We can do a slab.”
“If we can put a couple slabs down, you are giving a different functionality to the same use. To me it just makes sense,” said Coun. Contois.
“When it’s frozen they can play hockey and when it thaws they can play ball hockey.”
Mayor Rob Keffer said he was pleased to see this item on the meeting’s agenda.
“Start with it at the Lions park, and staff driven,” said Mayor Rob Keffer. “Thank you for bringing it forward. It’s something residents have been waiting for, for a long time.”
