Estevan city council received messages of support and opposition for a possible third arena in the city during Monday night’s meeting.
The support came from the Estevan atom Knights hockey club. Head coach Sheldon Beatty and assistant coach Jon Park said that with the addition of a much-anticipated under-18 AAA hockey team, the Knights believe Estevan needs to look thoroughly at the possibility of a third ice surface. According to them, the third arena has been much-needed since the old Civic Auditorium was demolished.
Beatty and Park cited several reasons:
-Early evening practice times that are hard on coaches, parents and young players when every week parents have to leave work early to try to accommodate these ice times. Kids have to be rushed from school to the rink to try to get dressed and on the ice in 15 minutes. It’s even worse when at least one practice a week is in a surrounding area.
-Estevan Minor Hockey Association hockey teams have to travel out of town to play home games. If players want to practise and play out of town, Beatty and Park said they can request to be released and play in those communities, at a much-discounted cost.
-When practising and playing home games, Beatty and Park said it is frustrating to be in facilities that they believe are sub-par to Estevan’s. They noted kids have to use hand-warmers in gloves and toques under their helmets, and water bottles are freezing on the benches.
-If a third ice surface is constructed, they believe Estevan minor hockey and other events could be bigger. This would help with the cost of building a new ice surface. Estevan could have had more teams in this year’s atom tournament if there was a third ice surface.
“We all know this will be a very interesting subject for the city of Estevan,” they wrote. “There will be backlash and praise from many people, as we have seen in the discussions on various social media outlets already.”
Council also received a letter from a contingent of elected officials from surrounding communities: Bienfait Mayor Paul Carroll, Alameda Mayor Perry Kinder, Lampman Mayor Jay Jones, Midale Mayor Allan Hauglum, Torquay Mayor Michael Strachan, RM of Coalfieds Reeve Richard Tessier, RM of Cambria Reeve Darwin Daae, RM of Browning Reeve Pius Loustel and RM of Cymri Reeve Joe Vilcu.
“Being the surrounding communities that support the City of Estevan’s economy, we are opposed to the idea of building another rink with so many existing rinks in the area,” they wrote.
They pointed out there are five skating facilities in the communities surrounding Estevan that are less than 60 kilometres away. These facilities are underutilized and have ample slots of ice time available during the season.
“Many of our community members work in Estevan and support the city in many aspects. By building another facility, our rinks will continue to be underutilized, therefore being detrimental to our communities as well as Estevan.”
Thsee rural communities in the area rely on having a local rink to draw residents to the community, and without them, the rural communities will deteriorate.
“All communities were in support and many contributed to the facilities currently in Estevan and feel that funding should be allocated towards other recreational facilities that are not currently available, therefore benefitting Estevan and all surrounding communities as a whole.”
Council has previously stated that they would not make a decision on a third arena for the Energy City during this term. Rather, they would leave it up to the next council.
The next civic election in Estevan is slated for November.
