HomeMy WebLinkAboutLakeshore Advance, 2013-12-18, Page 11Bayfield Ice users
pitch new Ideas
to council
Gerard Cream
QM' Agency
There are other ways to keep the Hayfield Arena ice pad
open.
Users of the facility spoke to Bluewater Council at a spe-
cial meeting Dec. 5, talking about what the arena ln'ans to
them, and proposing ways to keep the ice In.
Council originally voted to make this the last year for Ice
in October, after years of sitting all the fence over a 2009
facilities report.
• 4. With about 23 hours of ice time a week rented out this
.'anon, usage Is down in Bayfield as compared to other
Ilhuewater arenas. however, it Is a slight rebound over last
year, which saw only 17.5 hours per week paid ice time, and
Hayfield dot's run the smallest operational deficit of all the
Hluewnter arenas.
Marketing the ice for hockey clinics and overflow time for
other organizations could bring more business in the doors,
many of' the public speakers said. 'ihe demand Is there for
extra ice time in other centres, and Hayfield could pick that
business up.
Ron Keys has played more than ti00 games 011 the Hay-
field Ice since he started playing hockey in 1981. A member
of the Hayfield Relics Mien's hockey team, Keys challenged
council to find any facility in Illuewmter that has a larger age
range of ice users. if the size of the ice were increased he
said Hayfield could accept overflow from nearby Goderich
a11(1 Clinton.
1 le came equipped with a conversion plan for the existing
Hayfield arena, which included adding removable boards
and flooring to cover the Ice, increasing the ice size to
75x1115 feet, removing the bleachers and doubling the sire
of the arena dressing rooms. All told, Keys said It would cost
$1.1 million, bused on quotes he gathered for his
presentation.
11e said council should have been f causing on filling the
arena for the seven months of the year when there Is no ice.
And should expansion prove too much, the small size of
the Ice and dressing rooms could still be seen as a benefit
for minor hockey programs. Because Bayfield is part of the
13(:11 Minor Hockey Association, ice time is spread across
three different communities for Its teams. Organizing ice
tunes based an size could be 11 gain for the village.
"It's the perfect size to learn hockey 1111 to Alo111 age,' said
couch and arena user 11111 Whetstone. "•111e Issue is not cost
A► a Zack of marketing."
Whetstone said concentrating smaller teams for smaller
Ice could bring Hayfield's numbers up, as could holding
hockey schools and specialized clinics.
Women's hockey representative Stephanie Allen sug-
gested council better utilize their web page to help sell and
schedule Hayfield Ire time before further taxing already
drained service groups for money.
Hayfield Councilor Geordie Palmer said it is a case of the
municipality not seeing the forest for all the trees, just trying
to manage the arenas without actively promoting them,
echoing Allen's remark that this should have been happen -
Ing all along. Early in the meeting, he reminded the gallery
that the (decision Was base(( on usage, and that council was
"not here to shut the whole thing down."
Council and the Ice user group representatives all agreed
that a committee should he struck between council, service
clubs 4111(1 arena users to determine how best to maintain
the community asset. however, Mayor 13111 Dawson
explained their role that night was only to take information
from users.
A public meeting will be held in early January to present
options for the Hayfield ice.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013 • Lakeshore Advance 11
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