Mayor Jim Watson is joined by members of the Sens Foundation and and other city officials as they turn the sod for the second phase of Ottawa’s community rinks initiative at Jules Morin Park in Lowertown.
Centretown is on the list of targeted areas for the Sens Foundation and the City of Ottawa’s joint project to introduce a series of outdoor rinks to neighbourhoods in need across the city.
The rinks will allow children and youth to “be active, participate in team sports, learn new skills, meet new friends, all of the good positive things that come with participation in social recreation,” says Danielle Robinson, president of the Sens Foundation, the charitable arm of the Ottawa Senators NHL hockey club.
The City of Ottawa and United Way have identified after-school time and weekends as “critical hours” during which it’s important for children to have access to these recreational opportunities, says Robinson.
The new rinks will be equipped with an asphalt foundation, boards such as those found in arenas and will be comparable in size to indoor ice surfaces. Due to the smaller size of the project, the rinks will be natural surfaces rather than artificially cooled ones.
“It should greatly increase the usability of these rinks for hockey and a whole variety of activities,” says Dan Chenier, the city’s manager of parks and recreation.
The asphalt base will allow for multi-seasonal use — skating and hockey throughout the winter season and basketball and lacrosse in the summer.
The plan is to build 19 NHL-size facilities in areas across Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec, says Robinson. The “Rink of Dreams” built in front of city hall last year was the first of 20. That ice surface, however, has artificial cooling to allow it to be used on warm winter days, as well.
Eight neighbourhoods have been identified as priorities for new rinks in the Ottawa area.
“They tend to be economically disadvantaged communities that have been identified through the community development framework,” says Chenier.
Centretown, Bayshore, Overbrook, Heron Gate, Navan and Cumberland are all areas which have been identified.
The selection of specific sites for the rinks is dependent on the suitability and donor preference, says Chenier.
There are currently outdoor rinks in Centretown at city-owned recreation centres like McNabb and Jack Purcell.
The Sens Foundation is funding the development project. It’s working with the community by accepting individual donations, major gifts, and money raised through community partners such as businesses, citizen’s groups or other potential benefactors.
Money donated towards this year’s rink project was raised through events such as 24h of Ski of Tremblant and Maharaja’s Ball.
“The faster we can raise the money to get these rinks done, the quicker that we’ll build them,” says Robinson.
There will be $250,000 allotted to the construction of each rink, says Chenier, for a total project cost of approximately $2 million for the eight neighbourhoods.
The project is also taking community opinion into consideration. As Robinson explains, it is “much more grass roots in working with community organizations, schools, resident’s groups within the actual communities that they’re going to make sure that they’re a success.”
Jules Morin Park, on Cobourg St. at the corner of Clarence, in Lowertown, is the first rink to undergo renovations.
Chenier says areas with existing rinks are more likely to be considered because project costs do not include the additional cost of bringing in water and lights.
Lowertown residents were involved in the decision-making for the existing rink, says Chenier. Residents voiced their opinions on the location and the incorporation of facilities for lacrosse, which has a history in Lowertown. The asphalt court underneath the rink will be painted with various sports lines including lacrosse, four-square and hopscotch.
For Norm Sharpe, chair of the Bytown District Hockey arm of the Ottawa District Minor Hockey Association, the creation of new outdoor rinks has the potential to address two of the major issues minor hockey associations face, availability of ice time and cost of renting indoor arenas.
Though Sharpe says “it’ll only do that if the city takes steps to do things that will make this ice available to minor hockey.”
If the ice can be reserved for practice, players can benefit from the experience of playing outdoors, says Sharpe.
“As long as you structure your practice to use the facility properly you can have a lot of fun and it can even be seen as a team bonding thing.”