The Sunshine Coast Arena in Sechelt is not expected to have ice next hockey season, the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) confirmed June 14.
On April 15, the decades-old arena was forced to close its doors after a pressurized heating pipe in the underpad burst.
At this time, the SCRD is not publicly speculating on the costs associated with a repair of the facility.
"There's a lot of misinformation out there. I think it all comes from when you can't give people the whole story. Hopefully, we're able to do that in the next week," said SCRD board chair Garry Nohr.
A report from the SCRD's recreation manager, Bruce Bauman, is expected in the coming weeks as well.
As it became apparent that the closure of the arena would impact next year's season, the task for staff was to engage ice users.
Demand for ice time, at least in the fall, will likely outpace the availability of the Gibsons and Area Community Centre; meaning, user groups will have to make sacrifices until a remedy is found.
"Where it stands as far as insurance and everything else, I haven't been privy to that yet. I think the whole board will be waiting for that probably next week," Nohr said, adding that he felt a public hearing might not be necessary for the board to make a decision on the arena's fate.
Bauman broke the news to the board and user groups last week. He said June 19 that there had not yet been any news from the insurance company.
After advising the board and SCRD staff of the situation last Thursday, Bauman attended the annual ice allocation meeting to inform the rink's users.
"Everybody got together, took a little pain," he said. "Everybody was on the same page, they're all looking to make this work for everybody. I thought as a community it was just really good, the community really came together to make this work."
Adjustments were made to the allotment of ice time, with groups taking smaller pieces and moving their schedules to spots where there was less demand.
"There is not as much good ice time around as there used to be. You have groups going early in the morning and also later at night. How that sorts itself out, I guess we'll have to wait and see," Bauman said.
Staff were warning the users that the arena's season was under threat in May, when Bauman provided an update on the situation to the SCRD's community services committee. He said May 10 that there were indications of permafrost build-up below the heating pad and that an insurance adjuster had met with the SCRD.
