The fate of West Ferris arena is finally moving forward after a long summer, as Council approved both a special committee of council members, as well as geotechnical studies of possible sites for its replacement.
These decisions were made Tuesday night following a presentation by the city’s managing director of community services, John Severino.
The special committee will comprise of councillors Mark King, Daryl Vaillancourt, Derek Shogren, Chris Mayne, as well as the mayor. Meanwhile, for the geotechnical studies, approval was given to provide staff with a budget of up to $60,000 to investigate potential sites, such as adjacent to Memorial Gardens, or the Steve Omischl Sports Complex, as well as other possible locations of consideration.
“I feel very comfortable with the process,” King said after the meeting. “I can tell you honestly that I feel we’re moving down the right road, doing it correctly. I feel confident with the people behind it. The first part of the process will be to entertain any other options out there for a possible location. Certainly, I know there are some thoughts other councillors have and we’ll probably deal with that in the first committee meeting. We’ll then look at the cost, design, location, and if it should be one or two pads.”
Despite there being not much discussion from members of council after the presentation, Coun. Tanya Vrebosch voiced her concerns of the Memorial Gardens location.
“I think the arena should stay in Ferris,” she said. “I don’t see the viability at Memorial Gardens.”
Her concern—one also shared by Coun. Mike Anthony—was of the increased traffic in an already congested area. King said he also agreed with these concerns, noting Severino’s details on Chippewa Creek making it a challenge to create accessibility to the dual ice pads behind the Gardens building.
“I’ve said publicly, once we look at the geotechnical process, it will probably create a cost burden to attaching it to the Arena,” King said. “Vrebosch did bring up her concerns with respect to traffic. I think those issues get to be too expensive. I know the (Multi-use Recreational Facility (MURF) Feasibility Study) group was very interested in that location and we owe it to them to investigate it.”
It was also noted that should Thomson Park be selected for the replacement project, the Rollie Fischer Football Field behind the Gardens would be replaced, for the most part, by the size of the projected dual ice pads.
The possibility of rehabilitating West Ferris arena came as too expensive an idea, according to Severino. He noted in his presentation that despite the commonly known issue being the wood truss-support barrel roof nearing the end of its life span, there is currently a long list of issues needing to be looked at.
King was optimistic on the timeline moving forward, looking forward to the special committee meetings and coming up with tangibles in short order.
“I would like to see this completely ready to break ground in the spring, roughly a 16 to 18-month build,” he said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us to get this done in a timely fashion. I think everybody recognizes around the table we don’t want to get into an election in the middle of this process. Council needs to make a decision on this issue. I think it’s gone on too long.”
