The Agriplex arena ice surface has been shut down for the coming hockey season.
However, the facility may not yet have hosted its last hockey game. Instead of permanently shutting down the ice plant, city council decided Monday to close the Agriplex only temporarily for the 2013-14 season as they get further feedback from user groups and the community as to what to do in future years.
Concerns about a major loss of ice time to user and community groups ultimately persuaded councillors to hold off on a permanent closure of the facility.
Still, councillors felt they had no choice but to close the ice surface for the coming season, having seen for themselves the safety issues at the arena during a tour of the facility earlier this summer along with Battlefords Ag Society officials.
"There's certainly no doubt about this, the repairs cannot be completed to have it function this year," said Councillor Trent Houk.
"It is not safe to operate this year, as we've all seen with the tours."
Still, Houk and other councillors made it known they wanted to hold off on a permanent closure and see further consultation and discussion with user groups and stakeholders.
Councillors left the door open to possibly go ahead with the considerable and expensive repairs needed, or to even consider other alternatives that would keep the arena open. Those decisions are still to be determined.
The resolution to close the Agriplex rink for 2013-14 passed unanimously, after an amendment passed to remove the word "permanently" from the resolution and replace it with "temporarily."
The arena closure does not impact the other operations for the Agriplex, such as for trade shows and other events during the rest of the year. The facility is co-owned by the City and the Battlefords Ag Society, with the City responsible for the arena portion during the winter months.
The decision to close the arena for the coming season came following a report from facilities manager Bill Samborski citing major safety concerns.
According to Samborski's July 30 memo, the most pressing concern was deterioration in the dasher boards, which was worse than expected.
"The existing boards, players boxes and gates are in need of replacement," Samborski's report stated. Repairs were "no longer viable due to wood rot, overall wear and tear and lasting affects of repairs over many years."
Samborski also cited issues with the metal chain-link fencing used at the ends of the arena instead of glass. He noted the mesh was bent and had many protrusions, creating a risk to users.
As well, the ice plant is over 30 years old and "cannot keep up in warmer winter weather."
Estimated capital costs were $260,000 for the ice plant, $175,000 for board replacement, $35,000 for ice surface lighting and $40,000 for lobby and dressing room upgrades, as the showers require a retro fit and no toilet facilities are located in either room.
It was Samborski's assessment of the implications of closing the ice plant that had a major impact on councillors and ultimately swayed them against the idea of a permanent closure.
Samborski noted the Agriplex ice surface was still heavily used, and that about 650 hours of ice time is used per average each season at the Agriplex. The City could absorb only approximately 100 hours into the Don Ross Centre arena and the Civic Centre. Battleford Arena has limited availability, he said.
Closing the Agriplex rink "will create an ice time shortage in the Battlefords," stated Samborski's report.
The loss of some 550 hours of ice time raised concerns for several councillors, including Houk. "There's going to be a lot of groups that are going to be struggling," he said.
Building a new facility to make up the loss of ice time was a non-starter for Councillor Greg Lightfoot. "We don't have $5 million to build another facility", he said.
Lightfoot expressed support for the idea of renovating the boards, ice plant and dressing room. "Based on the numbers and the hours that it's utilized, I feel a permanent closure is not an option."
Councillor Ryan Bater also agreed with Houk and Lightfoot but expressed support for pursuing other alternatives such as "selling the facility for a dollar to the Battlefords Minor Hockey Association or the Ag Society."
"If we find by closing it this season that there is a really big gaping hole in the community, we have to look at making the investment of a half-million dollars, which is, you know, it's a lot of money" said Bater.
For his part, facilities manager Samborski welcomed the sentiments of councillors with respect to possibly keeping the Agriplex open.
"It gives me a lot of hope to hear this type of conversation," he said.
He did say, however, that should they decide to renovate or improve the facility, "it's kind of all-in," meaning not only the boards but also the makeshift space near the girls' dressing room had to be addressed. That female room blocked an emergency exit, and Samborski said that posed liability issues.
"For us to open a year later, that has to be addressed because I don't think that we can knowingly put people in front of an emergency exit, knowing that it's blocked, and get away with it from liability," said Samborski.
Samborski also told councillors there had been discussions with Battlefords Minor Hockey, and a meeting was set up for this week with all the user groups at the facility as well.
