While a lot of people wanted to see the Civic Auditorium open again, the insurance company said no, seemingly sealing the fate for our venerable rink.
It’s sad that the final word for the Civic came from an insurance company’s head office, rather than the local city council or city management. But if the city wasn’t going to have liability coverage, even after moderate repairs to the rink, then it would be a big mistake to open the Civic again.
The Civic likely would have operated without problem for the rest of the season if it opened again, but council can’t tempt fate on an uninsured arena.
It will also be a sad day when the Civic torn down. Regardless of whether you thought it should be saved or closed for good, you can’t deny the service it gave to the community.
Now the city has to decide its next step. We believe there are four options.
The first would be the status quo. Continue to operate with two arenas that can serve the needs of the community. The only change should be renovations to the Power Dodge Ice Centre to make it more spectator-friendly. A lot of people, perhaps an unsilent majority, want to see this option. They believe two arenas are enough for our needs.
We operated with two arenas for many years, and communities larger than Estevan have two arenas. They argue that if you give user groups time to adapt, they’ll be all right. Those user groups haven’t had the chance to prepare in the last two years when one of Estevan’s arenas has been out of commission.
Option two would be to build a third arena. User groups for ice sports want this option. They’ll point out the challenges they have experienced the last two seasons when Estevan has had two ice surfaces.
They’ll also point out, quite astutely, the indirect benefits of a third arena. It allows Affinity Place to be used for community events during hockey and figure skating season. It also allows for larger hockey tournaments, which carry a significant economic spinoff.
The third option is a fieldhouse which would be used for indoor summer sports such as lacrosse and indoor soccer. The fieldhouse idea has been growing in popularity in Saskatchewan in recent years. Communities with comparable populations to Estevan have gone with two arenas and a fieldhouse, and will tell you it’s the way to go.
It can also be used for community events, such as trade shows or fundraisers, during the ice sports season.
The final option would be to build both. In a perfect world, this would be great. But it likely wouldn’t work.
Ultimately, options 2 and 3 are the best. Option 1 doesn’t work for a community the size of Estevan, and option 4 might be too expensive.
City council will be tasked with the decision of whether to build an arena or fieldhouse. They’ll have to look at the pros and cons of each. They’ll need to study fieldhouses in other communities, but ultimately they have to select the best fit for Estevan.
And council will have to remember that they can’t make everyone happy. In fact, no matter what they decide to do, there will be a lot of unhappy people.
