A proposal for a year-round ice surface at the Canada Summit Centre has been shot down.
On Wednesday, Huntsville General Committee approved preliminary steps to extend the ice season at the centre’s Don Lough Arena in 2024 by roughly one and a half months but stopped short of year-round service.
The arena hosts two major tournaments during the dry court season– the Ontario Gymnastics Championships in May and the Huntsville District Minor Lacrosse Association’s (HDMLA) tournaments in June. The current proposal would have the ice removed at the start of May and added back in mid-June, to accommodate those events.
It comes after a public survey earlier this year in which 501 people voted in favour of year-round ice and 497 against, as well as a letter from the HDMLA and backlash from the town’s lacrosse community.
“We have a building there that’s worth $24-million that was not being utilized to its fullest extent,” said Councillor Monty Clouthier, who put forward the year-round ice proposal in March. “Our staff has tried over the years to book stuff in and use it, but it just wasn’t. So, the best feasible part is to go back and see if we can use it with the ice. By no means was this motion put forward against lacrosse or anything.”
According to a staff report, year-round ice would have come with a cost increase of roughly $134,000 for the town and included new staff hires but be made up by an estimated $160,000 in new revenue.
Committee also directed staff to consult with the HDMLA about tournament dates, with several councillors noting the storied history of lacrosse within the town.
“We around this table love the fact that we are a lacrosse town,” said Councillor Scott Morrison. “We’ve got a lot of successes and we celebrate that. We’ve got an arena named after one of the most famous lacrosse people to ever hit the floor,” referring to the centre’s Jack Bionda Arena, named after the Huntsville-born lacrosse and hockey superstar.
