Huntsville councillors reiterated at the General Committee meeting held on June 26 that their intention was never to leave lacrosse out in the cold in their attempt to find additional revenue at the Canada Summit Centre.
In March, the committee asked staff to investigate the impact providing year-round ice at the Don Lough Arena would have on staffing, the budget, user groups and rentals. That motion saw a major push-back mostly from members of the lacrosse community who saw it as an attack on the sport and accused councillors of pitting hockey against lacrosse in the community.
Huntsville Councillor Monty Cloutier said he brought the suggestion forward “because we have a building there that’s worth 24 million dollars that was not being utilized to its fullest extent… so the best feasible part is to go back and see if we can do it with the ice,” he said, adding that by no means was the motion put forward against lacrosse, which was neither his nor his fellow councillor’s intention.
Greg Pilling, Huntsville Manager of Facility Operations, Sales and Customer Service told the committee that a survey conducted on the possibility of having year-round ice resulted in just over 1,000 respondents of which 87 per cent were Huntsville residents. He said the response was split. Five hundred and one responders said they did not want year-round ice and 499 said they did. Pilling said the survey ran from May 5, 2023, until the end of May.
A user group survey was also conducted and 19 responses were received. Pilling told the committee that seven said no to year-round ice and 12 responded they would be in favour of it.
He said putting in year-round ice for an additional three and a half months would cost about $133,000 and based on the survey results there is the potential of an additional $160,000 in revenue.
Councillors thanked Pilling for a thorough report and engaged in a lengthy discussion.
In the end, committee agreed to leave the ice off for the Ontario Gymnastics Championships which typically takes place in May as well as for the Huntsville District Minor Lacrosse Association’s (HDMLA) tournaments in June. They instructed staff to verify the dates with the user groups and investigate the cost and potential funding for an ice cover, which would make it easier to accommodate all groups while leaving the ice in all year.
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