A sad anniversary is approaching in Estevan.
Nov. 5 will mark one year since the closure of the Civic Auditorium.
We can debate whether the Civic should have remained open (despite insurance companies’ contention that it shouldn’t), or if it was maintained properly in the years after the city decided to forge ahead with building a new arena.
The bottom line is the Civic was shut down, and six months later, it was gone, turned into a gravel parking lot.
People have spent the better part of a year wondering what’s next. Would the city construct a third arena to compliment Affinity Place and the Power Dodge Ice Centre (PDIC)? What would that arena look like? Would it better than the PDIC, but nowhere near as good as Affinity Place? Or would the PDIC become Estevan’s No. 2 rink, with the third ice surface being a serviceable and modern but bare-bones option?
Perhaps the city would opt for a field house concept instead. It’s becoming more popular in communities thanks to its versatility. Yorkton has two arenas and a field house. Weyburn is going in that direction.
When you hear the term field house, you might think indoor soccer. But it’s much more than just that. It can host all sorts of sporting events.
But it’s also a much more expensive proposition than a third arena, regardless of the direction the city would take for that third ice surface.
Then there’s the future of the PDIC. It’s no longer suitable to be Estevan’s No. 2 arena in its present form. Upgrades are badly needed. The lighting had received a boost, which is good. That will help create a more enjoyable experience for fans and athletes alike. It was something the city could do right away.
But considerable upgrades are still needed to address such shortcomings as seating areas and dressing rooms. The PDIC is not big enough to handle the number of fans for say, a higher level minor hockey playoff game, should that situation arise. (Think what could happen if the midget AA Bruins found themselves needing to use the PDIC because Affinity Place wasn’t available. Highly unlikely, but not impossible).
And how far do you go on upgrades to the PDIC when you consider it’s also an aging facility, and while it has aged better than the Civic did, you’re still looking at the possibility of an arena replacement in the next 20 years.
As stated previously, you don’t see many 60-year-old arenas out there.
The city has a lot of questions to deal with regarding the future of sports and recreation facilities in Estevan. They can’t build both a field house and a third arena. No matter what they do, someone is going to be ticked off.
The problem is there hasn’t been any public communication. Nobody has said “This is where we are. These are the options we’re looking at.” When there isn’t that discussion, it leads to speculation. And if you’ve spent any time on some of the coffee rows in this city, you know that speculation in Estevan isn’t always pretty (or accurate).
There are lots of people wondering what the PDIC will look like in a couple of years as well.
Hopefully the upcoming budget will clarify the situation, with significant upgrades to the Power Dodge Ice Centre, and provide a solution for what is a tough dilemma. In the meantime, it would be nice to receive an update.
As for the decision on whether to build a field house or a third arena, it will be among the most important for council in this term.
