A contingent of local sports organizations is appealing to the city to put the issue of a third arena for New West on the ballot in the 2018 civic election.
Representatives from the New Westminster Minor Hockey Association and the New Westminster Minor Lacrosse Association recently appeared at the city’s parks and recreation committee to make a case for construction of a third ice sheet in New West and to encourage the city to put the issue on the ballot in the 2018 civic election.
Daniel Fontaine, a New West resident who spearheaded an online petition supporting a third ice sheet, said the number of students is increasing in New Westminster, but participation in minor hockey is declining – something he attributes, in part, to availability and hours of ice time at Queen’s Park and Moody Park arenas.
“My son in bantam, it was down to 39 registrants. That meant we could only pull together two teams. Three or four boys had to go play in Burnaby. When you have only 39 registrants for bantam and last year you had more like 50, something is happening,” he said. “Kids have other priorities. We have to make sure this is as simple as possible.”
The delegation stated a third ice sheet would enable local teams to host more tournaments and could provide more ice time – and better times – for local kids. The delegation also noted public skating times are limited due to the minor hockey association’s ice requirements.
City of New Westminster officials have made no secret of the fact that the replacement of Canada Games Pool and Centennial Community Centre is the city’s top priority for parks facilities.
Fontaine said the group doesn’t want the city to delay that project, but to ask citizens if they’re willing to pay a special levy to cover the cost of building a third ice sheet.
Noting that Canadian children need lots of physical activity in order to become and remain healthy, the group believes money invested in “active” infrastructure pays huge dividends in terms of reduced health costs.
Mayor Jonathan Cote said council hasn’t yet received a report back on the issue from the parks and recreation committee, but he believes the appropriate next step for the city would be to do a needs assessment for a third sheet of ice, consider it in the context of all of the city’s priorities and determine where it fits into the city’s timeline.
“The concept of having a third rink has been identified in the city’s long-range parks and recreation plans. Even in the Queen’s Park master plan, it was anticipated that a third rink would be located adjacent to the arena property,” he said. “There already has been some preliminary thinking regarding that, but a lot more work has to be done in terms of the timing, the need.”
Cote said the Canada Games Pool replacement project is the city’s top priority at this time and staff resources are dedicated toward that project.
As that project gets underway, he said it would be appropriate for the city to “dig a little bit deeper” to understand the city’s needs for ice facilities and the timing of that project.
“Traditionally, the City of New Westminster does not do referendum for any infrastructure or recreation facilities. It’s not our common practice to use that. I think the major challenge with us going down that road is it doesn’t allow a community to evaluate all the different priorities in the community that really need to be looked at once,” Cote said.
“I know referendums are very popular south of the border, but they are a lot more rare up here. Traditionally, New Westminster has kind of developed its long-range capital programs and done so by doing appropriate studies, needs assessments and engaging the community to test the priorities.”
Earlier this year, Fontaine initiated an online ballot aimed as seeing if there was community support for the construction of a third arena in New West. He presented the petition, which has been signed by 523 people as of Dec. 13, to the parks and recreation committee.
