The future of spring hockey and figure skating on the Sunshine Coast is on thin and possibly melting ice as the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) is looking to close ice facilities in Gibsons and Sechelt by the end of March and through the summer.
The SCRD board heard from two delegations at last Thursday's community services committee meeting - the Sunshine Coast Minor Hockey Association and the Sunshine Coast Skating Club, both pleading to have the ice left in for a spring session.
At issue is the cost of keeping the ice in the arenas. There was much confusion between the groups as well as SCRD board members and staff as to the actual operating costs of keeping the ice in on a weekly basis. SCRD directors asked parks and recreation staff several times to revisit the cost of keeping the ice in.
According to Randy Udahl, manager of parks and recreation for the SCRD, the total cost of keeping ice in an arena, including operating costs, staffing and Zamboni costs, works out to about $10,000 a week.
That cost did not sit well with the skating club. In previous years, when the Sunshine Coast Arena in Sechelt was under the District of Sechelt's jurisdiction, the skating club paid a much lower cost.
According to club president Jill-Marie Jarvis, in 2007/08, the club was paying about $2,500 per week to run their figure skating program."I can understand inflation, but to jump $10,000 a week and for both facilities I struggle with that," said Ben Evered, a liaison committee member who has two daughters in figure skating.
Both groups said they have difficulty attracting skaters and hockey players to spring programs when they have such short notice to advertise, resulting in the programs drawing even less money.
Because the decision to keep the ice in is a budgetary matter, the SCRD board must vote on the issue.
Board chair Donna Shugar said the decision must be made knowing it is unlikely that minor hockey and the skating club could raise enough funds to cover the entire operating cost of the ice.
"It's absolutely a philosophical decision to have taxpayers subsidize the ice when it is not in use," Shugar said.
Udahl scheduled a meeting with representatives from both groups last Friday, hoping to get some co-operation and a commitment to the amount of time each group could rent the ice for during a spring session.
Udahl said the meeting went well and was able to get the groups to commit to about $19,000 in rental fees, covering approximately 50 per cent of the operating costs. He added that ad-hoc rentals of the ice for private use may also help cover costs.
"It's just now a matter of the board weighing the public need with the increased taxation to make that happen," Udahl said. "There's really no magic here. It's just whether the board feels that's a good expenditure of taxation or not."
The board is expected to vote on the issue next week.
