By Cecilia Nasmith
The Haldimand Memorial Arena in Grafton may never have ice again.
But this fact was not generally known to residents of Alnwick-Haldimand Township until the agenda for the April 2 council meeting was posted on-line late last week.
And the fact was not widely known until a member of the Grafton Residents Facebook group stumbled upon the agenda and the motion that was tenth on the list of business to be taken up.
The motion on the council agenda was, “Due to significant future capital costs, including refrigeration and floor infrastructure, there will be no ice installation moving forward at the Haldimand Memorial Arena as of fall 2020, and further that future uses of the Haldimand Memorial Arena will be considered to utilize the structure for community events.”
Fueled by shock and a five-day deadline, the Facebook group soon had a petition going that garnered hundreds of signatures. Arrangements were made for an alert to be one of the rotating displays on the digital community bulletin board at St. George's Anglican Church in its high-traffic location on County Road 2. There was even talk of a rally that – in deference to the pandemic – would involve cars parked in the arena parking lot.
And of course, e-mails and calls began pouring in to councillors, including Mike Filip, who was to put the motion forward.
Contacted for comment Saturday, Filip declined to comment, saying councillors were meeting that afternoon and would post an update online that afternoon. The result was a message from Mayor Gail Latchford saying the matter was deferred in order to permit consultation.
But the fact that it was originally scheduled to be put to a vote without consultation – during a time of pandemic when members of the community could not be present - struck a raw nerve with former hockey players and figure skaters, current and former hockey and figure-skating parents, grandparents, and hosts of former volunteers, all of whose winters once seemed to centre around hockey and figure-skating schedules.
Among them was Facebook member Wilf Venema, who posted a touching plea.
“I need your help, our arena needs your help,” Venema wrote.
“Some of us have been hearing the whispers that the Alnwick/Haldimand Town Council has been contemplating shuttering our much-beloved arena. Apparently the whispers hold a lot of credence.”
The April 2 vote, he contended, is being done “without giving us, the public, our minor hockey associations, our user groups, our kids the benefit of even pleading our case.
“Most of us grew up in this arena. It is knitted into the fabric of our little village of Grafton and all its neighbouring hamlets. It, just like every other rink in small town Canada, is the heartbeat of our community.
“We cannot just allow our council to throw all that away with one ill-advised vote. And for them to do it in the fashion they are attempting, under the cover of everyone's fear of COVID-19, while we're all housebound with so many other happenings on our mind and unable to gather en masse to voice our displeasure, and for council to have the audacity to not even consult with all of us townsfolk who would be affected, is reprehensible.”
Venema declared he hadn't the wherewithal or knowledge to know what recourse exists, and in such a short time frame, but he put out a call for ideas and action – even offering to put up the first $100 in the event legal counsel might be an option.
“I fear we are going to lose our beloved 'barn,'” he continued.
“I believe we have to put our money where our mouth is before it's too late. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.”
Another Grafton resident taken by surprise was Liam Cragg, who had appeared before council Dec. 12 to make a presentation summing up the extensive study undertaken by the Parks Master Plan Committee on parks and recreation facilities throughout the township.
“Our committee came up with a bunch of recommendations, and there were two major things,” Cragg said.
“The entire area is over-serviced with arenas. You could take a look at the arenas from Port Hope through Brighton and north, and I don't believe any of them have their prime-time ice fully utilized. If their prime-time ice isn't fully utilized, I guarantee our prime-time ice isn't fully utilized either.
“The other big recommendation is – there has to be a public consultation.”
It may well be that keeping an ice surface is not feasible, Cragg said, but such a decision should not be made unilaterally.
“If you are going to spend tens of millions of dollars on a recreation facility, don't you think you should get one that the public wants to use? I believe in current usage of the Grafton arena, you could sum it up by 100 families,” he allowed.
Still, he pointed out, “There's a lot of people saying, 'We have been blindsided.' Yes! Where's the public consultation?
“We had suggested – well before COVID-19 – let's do a series of meetings in February, March and April. Well, that's off the table now.
“But we thought three meetings each month, in Grafton, Centreton and Roseneath, and a questionnaire with your property-tax bill. They didn't do it.
“It gets to the point where you wonder why do you do all these volunteer hours to provide input to your township if you are going to be ignored? We worked hard. We all were respectful of opinions around the table. We knew we were under a deadline to produce something so they could have it for budget discussions.
“We even went so far as to offer to design a questionnaire they could use for the tax bills. We were met with silence.”
Cragg recalled a similar exercise Dick Raymond worked on 10 years ago, meeting a similar silence.
Raymond grew up across the street from the arena when his family moved from Cornwall. He remembers construction starting in 1949, and Bruce Ferguson stopping in to borrow tools from his father before applying for a job on the site. He hit paydirt, Raymond recalled – a job at 25 cents an hour.
The artificial ice surface came along in about 1970.
As Cragg would a decade later, Raymond said, he delivered his report and got only silence for his efforts.
At the time he undertook his study 10 years ago, Colborne and Baltimore had new arenas, and the Cobourg Community Centre (with its two ice surfaces) was being built.
The Baltimore project came to $6-million, and involved an active community fundraising campaign. He expects that project would run $10- to $12-million today.
“I still think the arena has two or three years left in it,” Raymond said.
The notice posted on-line by Latchford to defer the matter for now cited the need for more consultation on the matter of the arena’s future.
“The high cost of infrastructure, repairs required, based on an engineering report previously received, is significant and would create a strain on the municipal budget and local property tax system,” she warned.
“Without ice, the arena could instead be used for community activities.
“We have heard from many of you over the past few days about this issue, and I want to assure you that we are listening. Council has determined that further discussion with the public will take place before we decide on a final course of action.
“We understand that this arena – and the availability of ice time – means a great deal to local families and sports enthusiasts; this is not a decision we will take lightly. In the coming months, we will arrange public consultations to get further feedback on how best to move forward.
“On behalf of council, I wish to thank everyone who has taken the time to reach out and share their thoughts to date. We encourage everyone to keep watch for the formal consultation on this issue and contribute your feedback when the time comes. This will help council to make the most informed decision in the best interest of our community.”
