I had a chance to read a letter to the editor from a resident talking about how Milton needs a “real outdoor skating rink.” I happen to agree.
Here’s a link to the letter from Inside Halton – Milton Canadian Champion
Preparations are now underway – in a matter of days from what I’ve been told by our staff – where Rotary Park and Campbellville Old Park outdoor rinks will be ready to go. Of course these are no refrigerated rinks and will rely entirely on the weather being cold enough to operate.
In the past, Milton has had these rinks in operation but pre-COVID, they weren’t utilized a lot due to warmer than normal winters we have experienced. Of course, during last winter, the temperatures were cold enough, but in a previous budget council had voted to close them. During the winters of 16/17 and 17/18, the rinks were in use for a total of seven days which made the decision to discontinue the service in 2019 easier.
Due to residents calls to action last year, our staff had put together some options for council to consider back in July and the decision was made to bring back the operations of Rotary and Campbellville Old Park as staff works on some numbers for council to consider moving forward.
There are other municipalities like Brampton & Mississauga who have over the years made the investments in outdoor skating rinks that are refrigerated and built into their budgets. Milton however hasn’t considered these investments in the past and now if we are to move ahead in providing these services, will be required to make some “significant financial investments” in these rinks.
I’ll give you some examples from that staff report for you wrap your heads around.
There are a number of options for outdoor rinks.
- Run by the town & non refrigerated
- Community Volunteer Program – run by local neighbourhood groups within town parks
- Run by the town – Synthetic
- Run by the town – Refrigerated
What we are currently providing with the two rinks costs us (taxpayers) roughly $16,000 for 2021/22 and $33,000 in 2022/23 in staffing, supplies and ongoing maintenance of the rinks. These costs will increase with the introduction of more rinks in town parks.
The next option of a community volunteer program is REALLY interesting and it would allow individual neighbourhoods in approved park settings to assist in the construction and maintenance of local rinks around the community. This is one of the options our staff are developing for council review and will be brought to us later this year for discussion. Costs will be dependent obviously on how many rinks will be approved, the uptake from the community to volunteer assistance as well as risk management (ie insurance) and screening processes.
The synthetic ice option is not something we would recommend at this point and would require a substantial capital and operating investment which in essence prices us out the market, but still can remain a long term goal for operations. There are synthetic rinks in Burlington and Brampton for those interested in seeing what its like.
Finally the town run refrigerated rinks which seems to be many peoples favourites as it guarantees a longer time of operation and less dependent on weather patterns. Notice its not entirely free of weather dependency but still can be used by the public longer than non refrigerated rinks.
The initial capital costs of this rinks are roughly $2-3 million each and approximately $300-400,000 in operational costs as you have to ensure each location has a changing facility and washroom structure and staff room available in where these are located.
As I mentioned, we will be getting an update as a part of our community services master plan process as we continue to grow. One of those areas is part of our Downtown Civic Square Study which should be updated later this year.
I hope this post helps in providing you some information about the outdoor rinks, where we stand now, why we made the decisions as a council in the past and what we’re doing about it moving forward.
The other hope I have is that you understand we are following this process to ensure we’re making the best decisions possible and not spending money on band aid solutions, but working on a plan that will service residents properly as we continue to grow.
The next steps are for council to review these options when they come to us later this year and to make the decisions about the capital and operating investments that will have to be made. As I mentioned, the refrigerated rinks comes with a price tag – a cost that will have to be paid by taxpayers (i.e. property taxes) and our council will have to decide if there is enough political will to make these investments in our community. We are going to grow in size over the next 10-20-30 years and in my opinion if we are to be a “complete community” our council will have to make these investments now. Waiting for a “want to become a need” as some around our table have described it is simply shortsighted knowing full well how large we are going to be growing.
We have to realize on the vision we have for Milton. Its all good to talk about it – we need to start doing it.
Great post Mike and spot on! Some have this idea that artificially low taxes means a higher quality of life. If we want better services we have to pay for it. The more the town drags their feet, the harder it will be to grow.