Chatham-Kent is moving ahead with developing an Arena Business Plan as municipal staff work to increase arena usage across Chatham-Kent.
Last week, the municipality wrapped up seven open meetings to get public feedback on all things arena usage. Municipal staff and councillors met with residents and arena usage groups in different communities to have an open discussion on how they can prevent declining arena use in Chatham-Kent.
Earlier in the year, the municipality announced they would be preparing an arena business plan that would look at strategic ways to keep the facilities operational and profitable. Jeff Bray, manager of parks and open spaces with the municipality, was in charge of the meetings this month. He said during the meetings staff showed the residents what they are proposing for the business plan. According to Bray, several different topics were discussed.
"Essentially, reducing ice rates, we've heard that there have been issues competing with adjacent rinks, their pricing for non-prime ice. We're looking at consolidating the effectiveness of ordering for the canteens and also trying to look at methods of getting the rinks viable 12 months a year," Bray said.
In regards to making sure arenas are functional all year long, Bray said they have been in touch with Bothwell Area Recreation Advisory Committee (BARAC), a group that organizes events year round at the Bothwell Area Sports Centre, including roller skating and lacrosse, in hopes that the municipality can work with them on how to utilize unused rinks.
"We have contacted [recreational] programs to see if there's any synergies with regards to, when ice is out, having programming in the rinks. BARAC is a great example in Bothwell," Bray said. "They're really the only rink that is very active when ice is out so we'd like to use that as a model."
An additional issue that Bray said was brought up several times was what the municipality is doing with 'dead ice,' blocks of ice that haven't been booked. Bray said currently dead ice times are being advertised at full rate but they are looking to see how other municipalities sell their unused ice times and how to make it more cost efficient for the users. He added that they are also looking at best practices from other arenas when it comes to users having left other ice.
"Another item that came up was how ice users can give back ice that they've rented," he explained. "Right now you're allowed to give two blocks back before you sign your permit. A lot of people see that as a hindrance because then they're stuck with a block of ice at the season."
Bray said he was very impressed with the turnout and how the meetings went. The next step will be working with the municipal finance department to finalize the costs of making the arena business plan a reality. For many of the items, such a reduced ice rates, Bray explained that the expenses would most likely come from the existing arena lifecycle reserve and not impact the base tax base. The arena business plan looks at arenas as a whole and has no connection to any decisions regarding building a new arena in Chatham.
For the time being, Bray said the municipality will be in contact with everyone who attended the meetings before the final plan goes to council.
"Once we get the number finalized, I'm going to let all the users that attended the meetings know what we're proposing," he said. "If there's any strong outstanding issues, I'll meet with them again. If not, we plan to take this to council on August 12."