Rob: In Banff, discussions are taking place about what to do with the second ice surface at the Fenlands Recreation Centre. Should we keep it as an ice surface? Should we turn it into a fieldhouse so different types of sports can happen indoors?

Tanya: What led to this was the Banff Hockey Academy leaving. It was one of the reasons why when they built the facility with a second ice arena included. There was also office space and team rooms as part of that contract. Administration, recognizing the loss of that revenue and that the space wasn’t being used the same way, came forward with this idea.

Rob: Maybe they’re looking down the road at Canmore to see how successful Elevation Place has been creating a gym and generating revenue that way. Well, successful until, you know, COVID-19 hit, but that’s another story entirely. Something that Councilor Brian Standish raised was the fact that it wasn’t just the Banff Hockey Academy. There have been a lot of people who’ve been pushing for years to have this additional ice surface in there. He’s saying it would be a real disservice to them and all their hard work if it was suddenly taken away.

Tanya: Council definitely heard feedback from ice user groups in Banff that removing the arena was not a decision that they would support. By removing that arena there would be not enough ice rinks within the entire Bow Valley.

The fieldhouse idea is something that’s been around for a while. It actually came up when Canmore was discussing Elevation Place originally, like in the early days  – remember when we were calling it at multiplex? I remember Canmore Minor Soccer in particular came forward in that process, really speaking to the need for that kind of facility. We don’t have anything like that here.

Banff council is not rushing to any decision on this. They’ve directed administration to return in October with a report on the financials of the facility because of the Banff Hockey Academy leaving I expect this to be a community conversation.

Rob: It’s not like they’re just going to make a decision without consulting the community. It sounds like there’ll be a lot of opportunity for feedback.

Filed under: Banff, Banff Council, Mountain Insider